The internet was created to help us connect with each other no matter wherever we are to share ideas and knowledge across the continent. However, as time has passed, it has become a cesspool for forgery, trolling and bigotry due to one’s ability to mask their identity. One such sham came to light when the Cyber Cell from Dwarka came across the case of Anurag Mendiratta.
According to the Times of India, Delhi police has arrested Anurag Mendiratta for impersonating the head of a sports TV channel and duping six women in the past two years. DCP Anyesh Roy, who captured him after receiving multiple complaints said,
“We tracked the money trail and the IP addresses which led us to his location in Delhi. Every online criminal leaves a digital footprint.”
Mendiratta is a BBA graduate from Lucknow and worked as a sales manager with three private banks in the NCR region. As for his part time and fraudulent job, he used to zero in on women by creating profiles that best suited his targets’ requirements, via a matrimonial website.
Till now, he has posed as Siddharth Walia, who’s apparently the head of a sports channel in Mumbai. And when that character was done, he switched over to the identity of a caring son whose father was diagnosed with cancer.
Mendiratta went to the length of using a fake id to trick a British woman. He even extorted ₹ 6 lakhs from her by claiming that he has an ailing father. Once the money was deposited, he verbally abused the woman when she asked for her money back. DCP KPS Malhotra said,
“He had used a device to show the ISD code of a different country. Technical analysis also revealed that he had a Gmail account with the fake name linked to his Facebook and other social media profiles to create a virtual identity.”
Apart from all those identities, Mendiratta had also coerced another woman for sexual favors by pretending to be Siddharth Oberoi, the head of a sport channel in Dubai. However, that jig was up when he tried to lure her in a second time by disguising himself as Siddharth Oberoi’s cousin. The victim reported in her complaint that the “cousin” sounded way too much like the previous fake Oberoi.
The sad part of the story is that this man, Anurag Mendiratta is already married and has a son, who are unaware of this man’s crimes. So, we hope that when she’s informed, she’ll able to move away from this life of lies and provide a better future for her son and herself.