Identity · Online
Verify Someone You Met Online Who Says They Live in India
A relationship that began online can be entirely genuine. It can also be one person, or several, working from a script. A visit to the address and a few checks at source usually tell you which within days.
When to ask for a check
We hear from people in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and the Gulf who have met someone online who says they live in India — on a dating app, a matrimonial site, social media or a business platform. Most want to know one thing: is this person real, and are they who they say they are?
Indian police and researchers describe the same pattern again and again. Contact begins on a dating or matrimonial site, moves quickly to WhatsApp or social media, and builds towards a request for money — a medical emergency, a customs fee, a visa, a business opportunity. Generative AI has made photographs, voices and even video calls easier to fake. A physical check in India is one of the few things that cannot be faked.
Service scope
What this service covers
Everything below is agreed in writing before any work starts.
What we can confirm
- Whether the person exists at the address they have given
- Whether they match the photographs you have
- Whether the job, business or college they describe is real, and they are part of it
- Marital status and family situation, through local enquiry
- Whether the story they tell — illness, family, business — matches what is on the ground
- Whether a company or agency asking you for money exists
What we will not do
- Hack accounts, phones or email
- Trace IP addresses or obtain call records
- Recover money — that is for the police and your bank
- Confront or threaten anyone
- Contact the person pretending to be you
- Anything that would put you at legal risk
Before you send anything
Warning signs we see again and again
Any one of these can have an innocent explanation. Three or more together, especially with a request for money, is the point to stop and check.
If money has already gone, contact your bank first: the sooner a transfer is reported, the better the chance of stopping it.
Common signs
- Live video calls never happen, or always fail
- The story moves quickly to a crisis that needs money
- Money is to go to a third party, or in gift cards or crypto
- Photographs look professional, or appear elsewhere under other names
- A job abroad — a rig, the military, a ship — and 'back in India soon'
- You are asked to keep the relationship secret from family
Method
How this service runs
Tell us what you have
Name, the city and address they gave, photographs, phone number, profile links and the story so far, by email or WhatsApp. Nothing is shared with anyone.
Feasibility
We tell you honestly whether the details are enough to check. A name and a city alone often are not; an address, a workplace or a family name usually is.
Field check
An investigator visits the address and workplace as an ordinary enquiry and checks the claims that matter at source.
Report
What exists, what does not, and what could not be confirmed, with dated photographs where appropriate.
Next steps
If it is a scam, we tell you where to report it, in India and in your own country.
What it costs and how long it takes
₹15,000 – ₹60,000, priced like a personal investigation. A single identity-and-address check in one city sits at the lower end; several claims across cities at the higher end.
Your written quote is fixed after a free scoping call, and it will not change based on what we find. If the budget available does not match what the case genuinely requires, we will tell you that rather than running an underscoped enquiry that cannot answer your question.
Where we run this service
Run by our investigators in every city listed and managed from our Jaipur head office.
Living outside India? See NRI support.
FAQs
Questions about online identity verification
Sometimes, not always. Phone numbers in India are often registered to someone else, and scam photographs are usually stolen. We tell you at the start whether there is enough to check — before you pay anything.
We can establish whether the person they claim to be exists at the address they gave. If no such person lives or works there, that is usually the answer you need.
No private investigator can recover money, and anyone who promises to is probably running a second scam — recovery fraud targets people who have already lost money. Tell your bank at once and report it: in India through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in, helpline 1930), and at home — the FBI's IC3 in the United States, Report Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, or Scamwatch and ReportCyber in Australia. Our findings can support those reports.
No. Enquiries are made without mentioning you, and nobody is approached in a way that reveals a check. If the person is genuine, nothing changes between you.
Yes, often for families in India and overseas. If the match lives abroad, see NRI marriage investigation.
Start with a free scoping call
Describe the situation in a few lines. You will get an honest answer about whether it can be verified, what it would involve and what it would cost — before any commitment.