New Delhi: A 35-year-old man donned a bevy of identities — projecting himself as a lawyer or a doctor, or a film producer — to lure as many as 500 women across the country and fleeced them of Rs 2 crore. Delhi southwest DCP Amit Goel said the accused, Anand Kumar, a resident of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, operated with “a high level of sophistication”, using fake profiles on social media, dating and matrimonial platforms to identify and target victims.
Kumar was arrested following what officers described as a months-long digital investigation spanning multiple states, bank accounts and mobile networks.
DCP Goel said Kumar’s method was patient and calculated. He would initiate friendly conversations, often presenting himself as a well-established professional, before gradually building emotional intimacy. Conversations would then shift to private messaging platforms, where he used multiple phone numbers and accounts, sometimes juggling several identities simultaneously.
“He created an ecosystem of deception,” Addl DCP Vikas Meena said. “In some cases, he introduced secondary fake profiles posing as friends or relatives to make his stories more believable.”
Once trust was established, the narratives would shift. Kumar allegedly fabricated crises, sudden medical emergencies, business losses, or urgent family needs to seek financial assistance. In several instances, he promised marriage, while in others ,he lured victims with offers of modelling assignments or admissions to reputed institutions.
In one case, a woman lost around Rs 7 lakh after being contacted by a profile under the name “Vaibhav Arora”. Police said Kumar not only developed a romantic relationship with her but also introduced a fictitious associate to formalise the alliance. When she began asking for her money back, he allegedly vanished and later claimed the man she knew had died.
Police said the fraud extended beyond financial cheating. Kumar allegedly persuaded several victims to share private photos and videos during the course of their online interactions. These were later used to blackmail them.
Police said Kumar frequently switched devices, used SIM cards obtained under different identities, and routed transactions through multiple bank accounts. It was only after analysing digital footprints and financial trails that a team was able to trace him to West Bengal, where he was arrested on March 22.
From his possessions, four smartphones, eight SIM cards, three debit cards and gold jewellery, including bracelets and chains, allegedly purchased with the proceeds of the crime, were recovered further a significant portion of the money was also spent on online gaming.
Preliminary investigation suggests Kumar may have been involved in similar cases in Delhi and Ghaziabad. Police are now working to identify additional victims and map the full extent of the network.
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