Matrimonial Fraud Complaint: Process, Documents, Timeline

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 1 Nov 2026 · Online fraud

A matrimonial fraud complaint is a written cheating complaint filed at the police station or on cybercrime.gov.in and registered under section 173 of the BNSS, 2023, with cheating charged under section 318(4) of the BNS, 2023. The case turns on three documents: the profile, the messages that promised marriage, and the payment trail.

Matrimonial fraud is the use of a marriage proposal to extract money, gold, property or sexual compliance from a person who believes a marriage is genuinely going to take place. The complaint is filed like any other cheating case: a written complaint to the police or an online complaint on cybercrime.gov.in, registered under section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, investigated and charged as cheating under section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, with section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 added where the deception was carried out through a computer resource.

The complaint rarely fails because the conduct is not punishable. It fails because the complainant cannot show what was promised, what was paid, and who received it. A matrimonial fraud case is proved from documents, not from the story: the profile, the messages, the transfer records, the invitation, the receipt for a wedding purchase, and the date on which the person disappeared. That is why the sequence matters as much as the content, and why the first week is worth more than the first year of follow-up.

What the law treats as matrimonial fraud

There is no single section called matrimonial fraud. The offence is assembled from several provisions depending on what the fraudster actually took.

Where money or property was obtained by a false promise of marriage, the charge is ordinarily section 318(4) of the BNS, 2023, which punishes cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property, with imprisonment up to seven years and fine. Where money was entrusted to the person for a stated purpose — a wedding expense, a joint savings arrangement, a property purchase in contemplation of marriage — and was then misappropriated, the charge moves to section 316 of the BNS, criminal breach of trust. Where the offender created a false identity, a forged document or a fabricated income record to sustain the proposal, sections 336 and 340 of the BNS on forgery and forged electronic records apply. Where two or more persons operated the profile, the introductions and the collection together, section 61 of the BNS on criminal conspiracy is added.

Where the fraud was conducted online — a matrimonial site profile, a fake social media identity, a video call, a payment link — section 66D of the IT Act, 2000 covers cheating by personation using a computer resource, and section 66C covers the dishonest use of another person's unique identification feature, which is what a stolen photograph or a borrowed identity document amounts to. Where the person also threatened the complainant to stop them from reporting, section 351 of the BNS on criminal intimidation is added.

A separate and more serious provision applies where sexual intercourse was obtained by deceitful means or by a false promise of marriage. Section 69 of the BNS, 2023 deals with that conduct specifically. Whether a promise of marriage was false from the beginning or was genuinely made and later abandoned is a question of fact that depends on the pattern of conduct, not on the complainant's belief alone. Courts have consistently treated an insincere promise made only to obtain consent differently from a promise that failed, and this distinction decides how the case is framed. It is one of the areas where the law is fact-sensitive rather than mechanical, and anyone relying on this provision should expect that the surrounding evidence — messages, timelines, whether a wedding date was ever fixed, whether families were involved — will be examined closely.

On the procedural side, the complaint is registered under section 173 of the BNSS, 2023. If the police refuse to register it, the remedy is an application to the jurisdictional magistrate under section 175(3) of the BNSS, which allows the magistrate to direct an investigation. Electronic records — the profile, the chat, the emails, the payment screenshots — must be accompanied by the certificate required by section 63 of the BSA, 2023 for them to be admissible as evidence.

The complaint process, step by step

Stop the money and preserve the device. Do not delete the matrimonial profile, the chat thread or the email account. Do not factory-reset the phone. A deleted conversation is often the strongest piece of evidence in the case, and it is deleted by the victim in the first hour.
Write out the money trail. Prepare a single-page statement listing every payment: date, amount, mode, the account or UPI ID it went to, and the reason the person gave for asking. Bank statements, UPI transaction references and the payee details are the spine of the complaint.
Call 1930 immediately if money moved. The national cyber fraud helpline forwards a report to the bank and the payment system so that a request can be raised to freeze the beneficiary account. Speed matters more than completeness here; a rough report placed early is worth more than a perfect report placed late.
File on cybercrime.gov.in. The online portal accepts complaints where the fraud involved a computer resource. Keep the acknowledgement number — it is the reference police and the bank will ask for.
File a written complaint at the police station. Address it to the officer in charge, with your name, address, the facts in chronological order, the money trail, and a list of the documents attached. Ask for the receipt stamp on your copy and note the FIR number once it is registered under section 173 of the BNSS.
If the police do not register, move the magistrate. A complaint under section 175(3) of the BNSS asks the magistrate to direct an investigation. This is a written application supported by an affidavit and a copy of the earlier police complaint.
Inform the platform and the bank. Send a written report to the matrimonial site's grievance officer with the profile URL, and a written complaint to the bank's nodal officer where a specific account received your money. Under the RBI's July 2017 direction on unauthorised transactions, your speed of reporting affects who bears the loss.
Keep a follow-up diary. Note the date of every police visit, every written reminder, and every response. Delay and inaction by the investigating agency are themselves relevant later, and a dated record is what makes them visible.

Documents that decide the case

Document	What it establishes	Where to get it
Matrimonial profile, screenshots with URL and date	The representation that was made and by whom	Your own account; platform grievance officer
Chat and call records	Demand, inducement and the timeline	Your device; telecom operator for call detail
Bank and UPI statements	Amount, date and beneficiary	Bank branch or net banking
Identity documents shared by the suspect	Personation and the false identity	Your chat history
Wedding-related receipts and bookings	Loss caused by reliance on the promise	Vendors, hotel, travel agent
Section 63 BSA certificate for electronic records	Admissibility of the electronic evidence	Prepared by the person producing the device

Forum, value and the choice of remedy

A matrimonial fraud complaint can proceed in more than one forum and the choice has consequences. The criminal route under section 318(4) of the BNS is aimed at punishment; the money is recovered, if at all, through the court's power to order compensation or through a separate civil suit for recovery of the amount paid. Pursuing both at once is lawful but the two tracks have to be pleaded consistently. A civil suit for recovery usually lies where the amount is identified and the defendant has assets, and its limitation runs from the date of the last payment. A consumer complaint against a matrimonial platform lies only on the narrow footing that the platform's paid service failed, not that a member defrauded you — the platform is not the guarantor of its members' honesty, and complaints that fail to make that distinction are dismissed early.

What decides the outcome

The first factor is the documentary trail. Investigators and courts weigh a complaint by messages, transfer records and dates, not by adjectives. A complaint that says "he cheated me" without a single dated transfer is difficult to take forward; a complaint that sets out eleven payments with references moves quickly.

The second factor is the honesty of the promise. Was a wedding date fixed? Were families introduced? Did the person give a verifiable address, employer or identity? Did the requests for money begin before or after the promise was made? A pattern of escalating demands followed by disappearance reads as fraud. A relationship that broke down after genuine preparations reads as a broken engagement, which is a different matter altogether.

The third factor is the money's destination. Money that landed in a bank account in the suspect's own name is easy to trace. Money sent in cash, or through a mule account, or converted into gold and handed over, is much harder. The traceability of the funds, not the size of the loss, usually decides whether recovery is realistic.

The fourth factor is speed. Under the RBI's July 2017 direction, a customer who reports an unauthorised transaction within three working days bears zero liability; within four to seven working days the liability is limited (capped at five thousand rupees for cards issued by banks and ten thousand rupees for other instruments under the circular's framework); beyond that, the bank's own policy applies. Delay in a matrimonial fraud case therefore has a direct financial cost, quite apart from its effect on the criminal investigation.

Common mistakes

Continuing to talk to the suspect to "get a confession". This usually teaches the person what you know and gives them time to close accounts and delete profiles. Preserve the record you already have.
Deleting the chats out of shame. The evidence goes with them. Keep the record, protect it with a certificate under section 63 of the BSA, and share it only with the police or a lawyer.
Waiting for the person to return the money. Every week of waiting converts a recoverable case into an unrecoverable one, and weakens the bank liability position.
Complaining only to the platform. A platform can remove a profile; it cannot arrest anyone or freeze an account. The platform report is an addition to the police complaint, not a substitute.
Filing without a money trail. A narrative without documents is the single most common reason complaints stall at the police station.
Assuming the FIR ends the matter. The follow-up — charge sheet, evidence, witness statements — decides whether the case goes anywhere. Someone has to track it.

When to involve a lawyer

Most straightforward matrimonial fraud cases can start without a lawyer: file on the portal, file at the station, and keep the receipt. A lawyer becomes genuinely useful in three situations. First, when the police decline to register the FIR and an application under section 175(3) of the BNSS has to be drafted and argued before the magistrate. Second, when the case involves a serious allegation of sexual deceit under section 69 of the BNS and the framing of the complaint will shape everything that follows. Third, when there are assets to be preserved or recovered and the criminal complaint has to be coordinated with a civil claim, a bank chargeback and, where relevant, an application for bail or anticipatory bail.

If you are in Kolkata or elsewhere in West Bengal, the practical details change but the sequence does not: the complaint is registered locally, proceedings for offences connected with a cyber resource can be tried where the complainant resides under the BNSS framework, and the City Sessions Court and Bankshall Court deal with the trial stage. A consultation is usually about timing rather than about whether a case exists. If you would like a view on the documents you have, you can contact the office, and the general material on how these complaints proceed is collected under the cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata pages.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a matrimonial fraud complaint?

It is a criminal complaint alleging that a person used a promise of marriage to obtain money, gold or property. It is filed at the police station or on cybercrime.gov.in and registered under section 173 of the BNSS, 2023, with cheating charged under section 318(4) of the BNS, 2023.

Which sections apply to matrimonial fraud in India?

Cheating and dishonest inducement fall under section 318(4) of the BNS, 2023. Criminal breach of trust is section 316, forgery is section 336, forged electronic records are section 340, and conspiracy is section 61. Online personation is covered by section 66D of the IT Act, 2000.

Where do I file a matrimonial fraud complaint?

File a written complaint at the police station where the demand was made or the payment was received, and file the same facts on cybercrime.gov.in. If money has moved, call 1930 first so a freeze request can be raised on the beneficiary account.

What documents prove matrimonial fraud?

The matrimonial profile with its URL, the chat and call records showing the promise and the demands, bank and UPI statements, receipts for wedding bookings, and the identity documents the person shared. Electronic records need the certificate under section 63 of the BSA, 2023.

Is matrimonial fraud bailable?

Cheating under section 318(4) of the BNS carries up to seven years and is generally non-bailable, while the IT Act offences are less serious. Bail is decided on the amount, the accused's record and the investigation stage under sections 480 and 482 of the BNSS, 2023.

Can I complain if the marriage promise was simply broken?

A broken engagement is not, by itself, cheating. The complaint becomes viable where the promise was false when it was made and money was extracted against it. A fixed wedding date, family involvement and escalating demands before the disappearance are the facts that distinguish the two.

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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