Chennai: Blessed with a feminine voice, a 33-year-old man turned this unique trait into a lucrative scam. Registering as a prospective bride on several matrimonial websites, he called registered grooms while posing as an IRS officer-trainee. Through this scheme, he defrauded victims across the state of several lakhs of rupees.The accused, Ramkumar Pandian of Mudichur, had been creating profiles under the alias ‘Ishwarya’ on several matrimonial platforms since 2024. Police said he used a woman’s photographs and spoke to the men in a female voice. Whenever prospective grooms requested video calls, he said ‘she’ was undergoing IRS training in Delhi, Faridabad, or Mussoorie and the rules there prohibited video calls.In one instance, Karthik, 30, an architect from Kathirvedu, contacted the profile after registering on a matrimonial website in April. After a while, ‘Ishwarya’ sought money from him, claiming that her parents had died. The suspect also threatened suicide if Karthik did not transfer money to the bank account of her purported brother.Between April 5 and Aug 7, Karthik transferred a total of ₹9.52 lakh, before losing contact with the suspect. He then lodged a complaint with the west zone cybercrime police, who traced and arrested Ramkumar in Theni district. Police seized two mobile phones, a laptop, six ATM cards, two passbooks, two cheque books, six SIM cards, an IRS seal, and a ‘narcotics department’ name board from him. They also froze ₹1.52 lakh lying in his bank account.Police found that Ramkumar used different SIM cards to pose as the prospective bride, her mother, and her brother. Police initially suspected a gang was operating the fraud but found that Ramkumar had handled the different identities himself.Police said he had also posed as an IRS or Narcotics Control Bureau officer to obtain SIM cards and bank accounts from others. Ramkumar was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Sunday.
