Prospective bride from U.K. lures Bengaluru trader, makes away with ₹38 lakh

Based on the complaint, the police registered an FIR charging the accused, identified as Lakshmi Priya, and her family members under various Sections of IT Act, 2000 and for cheating. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

The East Division Cyber Crime Police have registered a case against a Non Resident Indian (NRI) woman from the United Kingdom (UK) and her family members, who allegedly lured a 25-year-old city based pre-owned bikes showroom owner into making spurious investments and made away with ₹38.8 lakh.

Based on the complaint filed by Vignesh Kumar, the police registered an FIR charging the accused, identified as Lakshmi Priya, and her family members under various Sections of IT Act, 2000 and for cheating.

The victim in his complaint said that while searching for a bride on a popular matrimonial website, he came across the profile of Lakshmi Priya in March this year and both texted each other. After formal introduction through voice calls, she introduced her family members and uncle who was running an investment firm in the U.K.

During Rama Navami, Vignesh Kumar and family made a video call to chat with Priya to confirm the proposal. While discussing about the marriage, she reportedly lured him to invest in her uncle’s firm to get good returns for the marriage. Vignesh made a initial investment online for ₹65,000 through a mobile app, which was showing good profits. He reportedly even withdrew ₹5,000 to check, and he successfully received the money in his bank account.

But little did he realise that it was a bait and following her advise he invested an additional ₹25 lakh. The investment was showing in the mobile app and after trading some shares, the profit reached to a whopping ₹1.4 crore. The cheating started when Vignesh was informed that his trade link was being closed for taxation purpose and he was told to pay tax of ₹17,56,600 as 15% tax along with an additional 3% service fee of ₹3.5 lakh with a total of ₹21.07 lakh.

Vignesh spoke to Priya seeking help where she assured to share some of her savings and also talk to her uncle to reduce 2% in the total amount of tax. Convinced by this and hoping to get the profit, Vignesh borrowed money and paid online. Though the accused said that they would share the tax payment receipt in three days, they went incommunicado. After repeated attempts to reach them failed, he realised that he had been cheated of ₹38,85,000 and approached the police seeking help to get back his money.

Published - June 04, 2025 12:31 pm IST