Kanpur, Jun 17 (PTI) Kanpur Police on Wednesday busted three fake matrimonial call centres for allegedly cheating people through fabricated profiles and false promises, arresting the alleged mastermind behind the racket, a senior officer said.
The police also detained 23 women employed as tele-callers during raids at three locations in the city, who were released after questioning and asked to cooperate with the investigation.
The accused has been identified as Ranjeesh Kumar Gaur, 30, an Intermediate-pass resident of Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, currently living in Kanpur.
Three of his associates — Amit, Karam Patel and Jagruti — are absconding, the police said.
Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal told PTI that the gang operated under the names “Perfect-Rishte”, “Shaadi Match” and “Shaadi Match India”, posing as genuine matrimonial service providers while allegedly running a well-organised cyber fraud network.
The case came to light after Chandresh, in his complaint, alleged that he was duped of nearly Rs 4 lakh by persons claiming to arrange his marriage through a matrimonial bureau, Lal said.
During the investigation, the cyber crime unit linked the case with three similar complaints on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) and traced several mobile numbers operating from common locations, Lal said further.
ADCP (Crime) Anjali Vishwakarma said the accused collected mobile numbers and personal details of unmarried men through Facebook, Instagram, matrimonial websites and online advertisements.
Women telecallers working at the call centres would then contact the targets through scripted conversations, posing as relationship advisors or prospective brides, she added.
The gang used AI-generated and digitally edited photographs of women to create fake matrimonial profiles. In many cases, female employees themselves allegedly posed as prospective brides using different mobile numbers and fake identities to gain victims’ trust, she said.
The victims were allegedly persuaded to pay registration charges, profile creation fees, contact-sharing charges and other fake payments under membership schemes such as “Silver”, “Gold”, “Platinum” and “Premium”, ranging from Rs 3,000-10,000, the ADCP said.
The police said the accused also used an application called “Prank Payment” to generate fake payment screenshots showing that the “bride’s side” had already deposited money. These screenshots were allegedly shared with victims to pressure them into making additional payments.
The gang also allegedly contacted complainants after cyber complaints were filed, offering partial refunds and persuading them to withdraw cases so frozen bank accounts could be reactivated, Lal said.
During the raids, the police recovered 43 keypad phones, 13 Android phones, desktop computers, routers, ATM cards, cheque books, QR codes, registers and other digital evidence, including WhatsApp chats, fake profile data and call records.
Preliminary investigation has revealed transactions worth around Rs 41 lakh routed through nearly 10 bank accounts across multiple banks, including SBI, PNB, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank.
Police said the money trail and digital forensic analysis are underway.
Investigators further revealed that Ranjeesh had earlier worked with a matrimonial firm in Chhattisgarh, where he allegedly learned the modus operandi before setting up similar operations in Kanpur using MSME registration documents and bank accounts opened in his name.
A case has been registered under Section 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act.
Further investigation is in progress to identify more victims and trace the absconding accused. PTI COR ABN SHS
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