A few days ago, a businesswoman was arrested in Hyderabad, India, for allegedly stalking and attempting to kidnap a television host after she matched with someone impersonating him on a matrimonial website. Bhogireddy Trisha, the managing director of five startup companies, was duped of 4 million rupees (50,000 dollars) by an imposter who posed as the well-known TV host Pranav Sistla, according to the Indian news outlet "India Today."
In a classic online fraud case, the unknown scammer used Sistla's pictures for his profile. The impersonator convinced Trisha to "invest in a promising project he was working on," which she did without hesitation, being fond of the TV host whose image was used. After transferring the sum of 50,000 dollars, the scammer stopped responding to her calls and ultimately blocked her on all applications.
Over the past two years, Trisha began planning to "kidnap" the TV host, mistakenly believing that he was the one who stole her money and left her emotionally attached to him. Despite facing Sistla, who assured her that an imposter had used his image to trick her, Trisha did not believe the famous host's claims.
With the help of her associates, she devised a kidnapping plan by monitoring and tracking the TV anchor until February 11, when they executed the operation. Somehow, the Indian host managed to escape from the kidnapping attempt before filing a report with the Indian police, who arrested Trisha and her accomplices involved in the kidnapping plot.
