Matrimonial fraud: Con artist held for cheating NRI family

HYDERABAD: A 30-year-old woman con artist was arrested on Wednesday for matrimonial fraud and cheating an NRI family of Rs 1.5 lakh. Koram Archana, who hails from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and staying at Leela Nagar, Begumpet, was arrested by the Cyberabad cyber crime police. According to cops, she was earlier arrested for a similar fraud and was incarcerated at the Chanchalguda jail for over five months.
Her latest fraud came to light after an NRI family registered their son, working in the United States as a software engineer, on a Telugu matrimony site. Archana, using a fake account on the matrimonial website, reached out to the family and then to the groom. Within weeks, she became emotionally close to the groom and the family and would often text, call and send photos through WhatsApp to gain their confidence.
“After building confidence, she insisted that the victim buy a sari, engagement rings, gold and platinum. To avoid initial friction, the victim had transferred Rs 1.5 lakh into Archana’s bank account,” a police officer said.
After that, she stopped responding to the family. When the groom's family intended to visit her house, they realised they were cheated after getting no response from the accused. Based on technical evidence, they zeroed in on her location and arrested her.