Here’s how a Haryana man deceived women with false promises of marriage...
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00:00He was accused of deceiving hundreds of women on matrimonial sites by pretending to be a wealthy man.
00:05In reality, he worked as a security guard.
00:08Manoj Gehlian from Haryana spent his quiet nights as a security guard,
00:12wondering his life struggles.
00:14In 2017, he came up with an idea.
00:17Seeking to escape his low-paying job, he decided to create a new identity,
00:21entirely different from his own.
00:23With a few clicks, Manoj created fake profiles on various matrimonial sites,
00:28crafting the persona of a high-earning professional,
00:31which was very different from his reality as a security guard.
00:34His targets were women seeking love, companionship and marriage.
00:38His modus operandi was to lure women into relationships by convincing stories.
00:42At times, he portrayed himself as a senior manager in a well-known company,
00:46earning 15-20 lakh rupees a year.
00:49At other times, he impersonated a high-ranking government official.
00:53After gaining their trust,
00:55Manoj would arrange meetings, continuing to present himself
00:58as the charming and successful man he pretended to be.
01:01As they began to open up,
01:02he would manipulate them into sharing their credit and debit card details.
01:06Once he got what he wanted, he would steal money from their accounts.
01:10And just like that, after draining their trust and their bank accounts,
01:13he would vanish.
01:14The fake profiles he had created would be deleted without a trace,
01:18and the women left in the dark would be ghosted without a word.
01:22On 23rd November 2024, a woman filed a complaint against Manoj
01:26of deceiving her at the cyber police station of the West District.
01:29Another woman alleged that he pretended to be a top executive at Delhi Metro
01:34and misused her financially and physically.
01:36According to the National Crime Records Bureau,
01:39dating scams increased by more than 24% in 2022.
01:42The following year, people lost over 200 crores due to these scams.
01:47The police said most of the victims don't complain and such cases go unreported.
01:51In the first four months of 2024,
01:53dating apps caused losses amounting to over 13 crore rupees
01:57in over 1700 complaints.
01:59In Manoj's case, when the police reached out to the women
02:02whose phone numbers were found on his device,
02:05some hesitated to come forward.
02:07Many were afraid of the social stigma and the shame that might follow
02:10if their involvement became known.
02:12A team was set up to investigate the case
02:14and trace the transaction to Manoj's bank account.
02:17However, they couldn't find him as the address on record was incorrect.
02:21The police found his fake profiles where he has switched between
02:24having a beard in one and being clean-shaven in another.
02:28His clothes also changed often,
02:30making his fake identities look inconsistent.
02:32But on 15 December, the police conducted a raid
02:35in the Usmanpur area of the northeast Delhi
02:37and they managed to arrest Manoj.
02:40The police said they recovered five debit cards and a mobile phone
02:43from his possession during the raid.
02:51For more UN videos visit www.un.org