Love, Lies, and ₹1.10 Crore Lost: How a Fake Canadian Bride Honeytrapped an Ahmedabad Businessman

Driven by the hope of starting life afresh after losing his wife, a 51-year-old machinery exporter from Chandkheda fell into a meticulously planned cyber trap that stripped him of ₹1.10 crore.

What began as a promising connection on a Gujarati matrimonial portal turned into a devastating financial nightmare, leading the victim to borrow heavily from friends before realising he had been conned.

The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police have registered an official complaint and launched a full-scale investigation into the multi-layered fraud.

Matrimonial Profile Turned Cyber Trap

Seeking a second marriage eight months ago, the businessman created a profile on a popular Gujarati matrimonial site. Shortly after, a woman claiming to be a Toronto-based Chartered Accountant at Nova Medical Labs reached out.

Stating she was originally from Delhi, she built trust over weeks of regular communication, eventually expressing her consent to marry him.

Once the emotional bond was sealed, the woman introduced an apparently lucrative business proposition. She claimed her Canadian employer urgently required a massive supply of 'Nadala Beet Root,’ a raw material used in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

To execute the deal, she guided him to an alleged Indian vendor named Mehrab, operating under the banner of Bharati Pharma.

To make the scheme look genuine, the fraudsters encouraged the victim to buy an initial trial sample from Mehrab for ₹2.50 lakh and sell it to the Canadian firm for ₹4.50 lakh. After he pocketed the quick profit from the test run, the syndicate struck with a much larger order.

24 Transactions and a Vanishing Act

Convinced of the company's credibility, the Chandkheda businessman pooled his savings and borrowed extensively from friends and associates to meet the massive supply order.

Across 24 separate bank transactions, he transferred a staggering ₹1.10 crore into four bank accounts provided by the woman.

However, the moment the final payment cleared, the Canadian executive disappeared. Her mobile phone was permanently switched off, and all communication lines went dead. Realising he had been cheated, the businessman immediately alerted the national cybercrime helpline and lodged a formal complaint with the Ahmedabad Cyber Crime Police.

African Syndicate Modus Operandi Under Scanner

Cybersecurity experts reviewing the case noted that the scam bears all the hallmarks of the notorious African fraud syndicate. The network specifically targets middle-aged individuals, widowers, or financially sound professionals looking for remarriage on matrimonial platforms.

In this classic operational structure, the gang controls both ends of the fake transaction acting as the foreign buyer seeking rare herbal or chemical raw materials and the local Indian supplier holding the stock.

To reinforce the illusion of authenticity, these syndicates frequently deploy foreign nationals to metro cities or airport zones in India to conduct fake sampling sessions before disappearing with the funds.