How to spot a fake matrimony profile

Matrimony fraud is not creative. Nearly all of it follows one of a few patterns, and the patterns are recognisable.

The signals that matter

They move you off the platform quickly. Within a few messages there is a reason to switch to a personal messaging app. Off-platform, there is no report button and no record.

The photographs are too good and too few. One or two professional-looking images, no casual photos, no family photos. Run a reverse image search.

Details shift. The company name changes slightly. The posting city moves. Ages of siblings do not add up between conversations.

They are always about to visit, and never do. A pattern of near-meetings, each cancelled at the last moment for a plausible reason.

Eventually, money. A customs charge on a gift. A medical emergency. A blocked account abroad. This is the point of the whole exercise.

What actually protects you

• Insist on a video call early. Fraudsters avoid live video.
• Verify the workplace independently, through the company's own switchboard.
• Involve your family from the first serious conversation. Isolation is what the script needs to work.
• Never send money. Not once, not a small amount, not as a loan.

If it has already happened

Report the profile on the platform. File a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in and with your local police station. Tell your bank immediately — the first few hours matter for reversing a transfer.