Not always la la land: Dark side of virtual relationships

Twenty five-year-old Rashmika (name changed), a blogger in the city, recounts, “I was in a virtual relationship with someone I met online for almost eight months. We exchanged pictures, texts, e-mails, personal info, and spoke on the phone. But whenever we planned to meet, he would mysteriously come up with an excuse. I finally grew suspicious and confronted him at his supposed office address – to find out nobody like that existed! Long story short: it turned out to be a 15-year-old who had invented a whole new character online, and had toyed with my emotions.” 

In other cases, crushes or ‘exes’ turn angry, vengeful or violent, which is when complaints usually are registered with cyber crime.

S Jyoti had to inform her parents and the police about her harasser, who turned out to be a guy from her college she’d matched with online. “It was just a few flirtatious texts, after which I stopped replying. Next thing I knew, he was stalking me every evening and turning up outside my house. When he threatened to morph my pictures and use them as revenge porn, I knew I had to take drastic action. The problem with these apps is that guys download our pictures or easily find our Facebook profiles with an image or name search. The lack of privacy is scary at times,” she rues. 

Matrimony.com: 9,91,000 

Shaadi.com: 4,20,000 

Jeevansathi.com: 3,48,000