Gang duping NRIs through fake marriage profiles busted in Jalandhar

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Jalandhar, July 31

The police have busted a gang involved in duping NRIs through fake online marriage profiles and arrested its two members and seized tech devices, including landline phones, computers, laptops and mobile phones.

The gang was operating from the fourth floor of Chinmastika building here under the guise of NRI Marriage Services.

“The gang used virtual phone numbers to impersonate individuals living abroad, luring NRIs into believing that they were seeking relationships,” said Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal.

DCP, Investigation, Harvinder Singh Virk, addressing the media, said acting on a tip-off, police teams, under the supervision of Inderjit Singh, in-charge of the CIA staff, Jalandhar, conducted a raid at the office.

“During the raid, two key gang members were arrested and seven computers, three laptops, two mobile phones, four IP phones and cash were seized,” he added.

He said following the raid, the police registered a case against the accused under various sections, including 420 and 120-B, Indian Penal Code, as well as Section 66-C and 66-D of the Information Technology Act.

“During interrogation, the accused revealed their modus operandi. They confessed to creating fake profiles on matrimonial sites using virtual phone numbers, which enabled them to appear as locals while communicating with NRIs. Once the connections were established, they charged fee in dollars through their application NRI Marriage Services. After the transaction, all communication with the victims abruptly ceased,” said DCP Virk.

He added that the investigation had exposed the magnitude of their activities as it was disclosed that the gang had swindled NRIs of over Rs one crore since 2020.

DCP Virk said among those arrested were 29-year-old Anand Shukla, MSc in IT, and 26-year-old Rohit, MA in Economics and specialising in website design.

He said the investigation was ongoing and the accused were currently in police remand. Raids were being conducted at different locations, he added.