You matched. You started talking. The connection felt genuine. Then came the emergency—a medical problem, a business opportunity, a ticket that needed to be booked, or an investment that supposedly could not wait. You trusted the person and transferred the money. Suddenly, they disappeared.
Unfortunately, this is no longer just a bad dating experience. In the right circumstances, it can become a criminal offence.
The Indian government itself has warned about the growing misuse of dating and matrimonial platforms. In an advisory issued on 31 October 2025, the National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit under the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) described a pattern in which fraudsters create fake profiles, build emotional relationships through calls, chats and WhatsApp, and then manipulate victims into transferring money, including through investment and cryptocurrency schemes.
So, if someone has used a fake identity, emotional manipulation or a false story to take your money, you are not legally helpless.
First, understand this: a failed relationship is not automatically a crime
This is an important distinction.
Someone breaking up with you, losing interest, refusing to marry you or simply lying about their feelings does not automatically amount to cheating under criminal law.
For criminal cheating, there generally needs to be deception accompanied by the necessary dishonest or fraudulent intention.
Under Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), cheating includes deceiving a person and dishonestly or fraudulently inducing that person to deliver property, or intentionally inducing them to do something they would not otherwise have done, where such conduct causes or is likely to cause harm. The provision also specifically recognises dishonest concealment of facts as deception.
In simple terms:
“They stopped loving me” ≠ automatically cheating.
But:
“They created a fake identity, gained my trust and deliberately induced me to transfer ₹5 lakh” = potentially cheating.
That difference can be crucial.
The most common online dating scam
A typical romance scam may look something like this:
Fake profile → emotional connection → trust → emergency/investment story → money transfer → disappearance
The person may claim to be:
- an NRI;
- a doctor or senior professional;
- an armed-forces officer;
- a successful entrepreneur;
- an investor;
- someone travelling abroad;
- someone facing an emergency.
The I4C's 2025 advisory specifically warned that scammers may use stolen or morphed photographs and false information about their name, profession, income and identity before moving conversations to WhatsApp and eventually seeking money.
What laws can apply?
There isn't one single offence called “online dating scam” under Indian law.
Depending on what actually happened, several provisions may come into play.
1. Cheating — Section 318, BNS
If a person deliberately deceives you and dishonestly induces you to transfer money or property, Section 318 BNS may apply.
Where cheating dishonestly induces the victim to deliver property or affects a valuable security, the punishment can extend to seven years and fine.
2. Cheating by personation — Section 319, BNS
Suppose someone creates a dating profile pretending to be another person.
That can potentially attract Section 319 BNS, which deals with cheating by personation. The provision covers pretending to be another person, including a real or imaginary person, and provides punishment of up to five years, or fine, or both.
3. Cyber cheating — Section 66D, IT Act
If the deception involves a computer resource or communication device, Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 may also be relevant. It specifically addresses cheating by personation using a computer resource or communication device and provides punishment of up to three years and fine up to ₹1 lakh.
Similarly, Section 66C can apply where another person's password, electronic signature or unique identification feature is fraudulently or dishonestly used.
What if they threaten to leak your private photos?
This is where a dating scam can become much more serious.
Imagine you shared intimate photographs during the relationship. After receiving money, the person threatens:
“Send ₹2 lakh more or I will send these photographs to your family and friends.”
Don't assume you have to pay.
Depending on the conduct, offences relating to criminal intimidation, privacy and sexually explicit material may arise.
Under Section 351 BNS, threatening a person with injury to their person, reputation or property with the intention of causing alarm or compelling them to do something they are not legally bound to do can constitute criminal intimidation. The provision expressly covers threats made “by any means”, making it relevant to digital communications as well.
The IT Act also contains provisions concerning violation of privacy and publication/transmission of obscene or sexually explicit material, including Sections 66E, 67 and 67A.
What if the relationship involved a promise of marriage?
This is a legally sensitive area.
The fact that someone promised to marry you and later did not marry you does not automatically mean that a criminal offence has occurred.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly distinguished between:
a genuine promise to marry that was later broken
and
a false promise made from the very beginning to obtain sexual consent.
In Anurag Soni v. State of Chhattisgarh (2019), the Supreme Court explained that where the prosecution establishes that the accused had no intention to marry from the beginning and the promise was used to obtain consent for sexual intercourse, the consent may be legally vitiated.
The Supreme Court reiterated the importance of this distinction in 2025, observing that merely establishing a physical relationship pursuant to a promise of marriage does not automatically amount to rape; the question includes whether the promise was false from the outset and whether it directly induced the consent.
Why does this matter for dating scams?
Because a genuine relationship that simply fails is very different from someone deliberately creating a relationship as a tool for exploitation.
A striking 2026 Delhi High Court case
A recent Delhi High Court case shows how seriously courts can view an alleged romance-and-money scam.
In Nikhil Sati v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) (26 May 2026), the accused was alleged to have met the complainant through Hinge, developed a relationship while expressing an intention to marry, and subsequently obtained approximately ₹44 lakh from her over several months.
According to the allegations considered by the Court, the accused later withdrew from the promise, failed to return the money and blocked the complainant.
The Delhi High Court declined to grant regular bail at that stage, observing that the sequence of developing the relationship, repeatedly obtaining money and subsequently blocking the complainant could not be ignored while considering the allegations of cheating. The Court also referred to the Supreme Court's principles concerning false promises of marriage.
Important: the order was passed at the bail stage and does not amount to a final finding of guilt.
Another Delhi case: fake matrimonial identities
In Paul Onyeji Atuh v. State NCT of Delhi (2025), the Delhi High Court dealt with allegations involving fake matrimonial profiles, impersonation and WhatsApp communications.
The investigation allegedly uncovered multiple mobile phones, fake profiles, WhatsApp chats, photographs, bank details and other digital material. The accused were alleged to have operated an organised network targeting victims through matrimonial websites and social media.
The case involved alleged offences including cheating, personation and Section 66D of the IT Act.
This demonstrates an important point:
Your WhatsApp chats, payment records and digital trail can become important evidence.
What should you do if you have been scammed?
1. Stop sending money
Do not send additional money merely because the scammer promises to return the earlier amount.
2. Preserve everything
Do not delete:
- dating-app conversations;
- WhatsApp chats;
- emails;
- photographs;
- voice notes;
- call details;
- profile screenshots;
- phone numbers;
- UPI IDs;
- bank-account details;
- payment receipts;
- transaction IDs;
- social-media profiles.
The National Cybercrime Reporting Portal specifically identifies chat transcripts, online money-transfer receipts, emails, screenshots, videos, images and suspect mobile numbers as useful information/evidence for cybercrime complaints.
3. Report financial fraud immediately
If money has been transferred online, report the incident through the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal as quickly as possible. The portal provides facilities for reporting financial fraud and other cybercrime.
Speed matters because early reporting may assist authorities and financial institutions in taking steps concerning the transferred funds.
4. Approach the police
If the facts disclose cheating, personation, criminal intimidation, extortion or another offence, provide a detailed complaint to the appropriate police/cybercrime authority along with your digital and financial evidence.
5. Don't publicly retaliate
Posting the person's photographs, phone number or private conversations online may expose you to separate legal issues.
Let the investigating authorities deal with the suspect.
What if the scammer is outside India?
Don't assume that being an NRI or foreign national makes the person untouchable.
The I4C's cybercrime portal expressly allows Indian citizens who have been victimised online by a foreign national or company to report the cybercrime.
Cross-border investigation can, of course, be more complicated, but the international location of the suspect does not mean that you should not report the offence.
The biggest mistake victims make
Embarrassment.
Many victims hesitate to report because they think:
“Everyone will think I was foolish.”
That fear is exactly what scammers exploit.
A romance scam is built around trust and psychological manipulation. The fact that someone successfully deceived you does not mean you have no legal remedy.
The important thing is to preserve evidence and act quickly.
The Bottom Line
Online dating itself is not dangerous or illegal. Millions of genuine relationships begin online.
The legal problem begins when someone crosses the line from ordinary deception or a failed relationship into deliberate fraud, personation, dishonest inducement, intimidation, extortion or other criminal conduct.
If someone used a fake identity to gain your trust, deliberately induced you to transfer money, threatened you with private material, or operated a systematic online scam, Indian law provides several potential legal routes—including Section 318 and 319 BNS and, where applicable, Sections 66C and 66D of the IT Act.
And with the government's 2025 warning specifically identifying romance and matrimonial platforms as being misused for investment and crypto frauds, this is an issue that deserves to be taken seriously.
The relationship may have started with a “match.”
But if the person was deliberately running a scam, the law can give you a way to fight back.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general legal awareness and does not constitute legal advice. The precise offences and legal remedies depend on the facts, evidence, nature of the deception, financial transactions, communications and conduct of the parties. Victims should consult a qualified advocate and report suspected cybercrime promptly.
