Victim of online fraud lays trap, helps police nab cheat

NEW DELHI: A failed businessman took to a matrimonial site to allegedly pose as a rich bachelor who owns expensive cars and farmhouses in NCR to dupe a 26-year-old Delhi woman of over ₹3 lakh, police said on Friday after arresting the man.

According to deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Jitendra Kumar Meena, the victim, with the police’s nod, coached another woman to help nab the man. “We have arrested the 26-year-old suspect, Vishal Balyan. We are investigating his possible involvement in cheating other women on matrimonial sites,” said Meena.

Balyan, who belongs to Muzaffarnagar, holds an MBA degree and worked in the human resource department for a multinational company (MNC) in Gurugram until 2021. He then opened a restaurant in the same city that failed during the second wave of Covid-19 the same year, said the police. To be able to maintain his “lavish lifestyle”, he allegedly decided to use matrimonial websites to dupe women seeking grooms, Meena said. On the matrimonial site, Balyan changed his name to Vishal Raghuvanshi, police said.

The complainant is a resident of northwest Delhi’s Keshavpuram. She also works in a multinational company in Gurugram and was looking for a groom when she came across “Raghuvanshi’s” profile on a matrimonial site in February. “Balyan claimed to be working for a MNC in Gurugram and drawing an annual salary of ₹50-70 lakh. They exchanged phone numbers and the two began conversing on WhatsApp,” said the DCP.

A senior police officer, who asked not to be named, said that Balyan posed as an orphan whose grandparents live in America. To make the woman believe that he was very rich, Balyan allegedly began sending her photos of expensive cars such as Mercedes, Audi and Porsche, said the DCP. “He also showed her photos of different farmhouses and villas in NCR to pass them off as his own.”

“Once the victim was convinced of the status he was trying to portray, Balyan told her that he could arrange the latest iPhone model at a price much cheaper than the market rate by sourcing the phones from his grandparents. The woman ended up transferring ₹3.05 lakh to him as payment for several iPhones that she wanted to buy for her relatives and friends,” the DCP said.

Once Balyan got the money, he allegedly cut all ties with her and blocked her on social media.

Once the victim realised she had been cheated, she reached out to the police in early April.

“The victim told us that Balyan’s matrimonial profile was still active. So, we reached out to a woman who had a profile on the same website. As planned, that woman showed interest in Balyan’s profile who quickly got back to her. The victim then began guiding that woman on how to lure him into attempting the same modus operandi,” said another police officer.

The plan worked as Balyan allegedly responded the same way as he had before.

The woman managed to lure the suspect into meeting her in Gurugram, and then dropping her to a neighbourhood in west Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh where a police team lay in wait on Tuesday. Balyan has been booked for cheating.