Malawi national, 2 others arrested for matrimony website fraud

Nagpur, Jan 2 (PTI) A Malawian national staying illegally in the country and two others have been arrested by the Nagpur Cyber Police for duping a woman out of Rs 7.5 lakh by creating a fake profile on a matrimonial website, an official said on Friday.

As per the complainant woman, a person who identified himself as `Dr Manish Madhuk' approached her through a matrimonial portal, and slowly gained her trust by chatting regularly and promising marriage.

The fraudster told the woman that he lived outside the country and was going to visit India soon. Then he asked her for money on various pretexts.

In all, she transferred Rs 7,51,150 to various bank accounts before realising that she had been cheated, the woman told police.

The Cyber Police conducted a technical analysis of the bank accounts and tracked down Rahul Satish Chavan (29), Faizal Mohammad Farid Sheikh (31) and Francis Masuku Zimba (31) to Pune.

Zimba is a Malawian citizen whose passport and visa had expired on June 11, 2024, the police found.

Zimba allegedly persuaded local people to open bank accounts and used these accounts to receive moneys transferred by the victims of cyber frauds. Further investigation is underway, the official said. PTI COR KRK