Matrimony.com, India’s biggest matchmaking service, has launched a ‘Safe Matrimony’ campaign aimed at increasing awareness among people about the modus operandi used by frauds in the online world to extract money.  Ace actor Vidya Balan who is known to stand up for social causes will be the face of the campaign.  The matchmaking platform, after in-depth industry analysis, has identified certain common frauds like - Fake Customs Fee, Emergency cash requirement, Cash on Delivery and Sextortion which are regularly used by fraudsters to dupe people on matrimonial sites across India.

Speaking about the need to launch the safe matrimony campaign, Murugavel Janakiraman, Chairman and Managing Director, Matrimony.com said, “The digital economy is growing, and so have online frauds. While millions of people have benefited from online matrimony services a very small fraction of the population has experienced fraudulent activity. While we at matrimony.com take multiple steps to ensure our platform remains free of such fraudsters. It is important members exercise caution and remain vigilant. While we have been running Safe Matrimony awareness programs for a while now, it’s important that we further amplify it to ensure our members or for that matter anyone using any matrimonial service have a safe and pleasant online experience.”

Matrimony.com has found four types of online frauds primarily - 

• Emergency cash requirement – where the fraud asks for cash stating an emergency situation. 
• Fake customs Fee – where the fraud requests a fake customs fee to be paid to receive a gift
• Cash on Delivery – Here, the fraud sends an item, asks the other person to pay, poses as if a wrong item has been delivered and gets the money credited to his account.
• Sextortion – The fraud asks the other person to view an online obscene content and then starts blackmailing to pay money. 

In the campaign video, Vidya Balan talks about these frauds explaining the importance of being vigilant in the digital world and the methods to stay safe. Also, the steps matrimony.com takes like allowing only mobile verified profiles, displaying government ID verified member badges and use of AI to weed out suspicious profiles.

This visual campaign is an initiative by Matrimony.com to guide customers to stay safe in the digital world and create awareness about safety while using the matchmaking ecosystem.