Call Girl Fraud in Bangalore Advance-money tricks, video-call blackmail, and what to do next

The ad looks much the same every time: a pretty photo, a low rate and a WhatsApp number. The trick sits in the first chat. Somewhere in it you are asked to send money before you meet anyone, and only the reason changes.

• Booking fee. A small amount 'to confirm the girl'. Once it is paid, the number stops answering or finds a new reason to ask for more.
• Security deposit. 'Fully refundable after she leaves,' they say. Nobody comes, so nothing is ever refunded.
• Hotel room fee. The girl 'needs a room booked by the agency', and you pay for a room you never see.
• Verification fee. A charge 'to check you are not police' or 'to verify your number'. It is there only to make paying feel normal.
• A QR code on WhatsApp. It looks official, but the money goes to a stranger's bank account, not to any girl.
• The cancellation refund. You give up and ask for your money back. They agree, but the refund needs one more 'processing' or 'GST' payment first, and then another.

Many fake ads use photos taken from other websites or from real women's social media, so the same face can turn up under many names in many cities. Before you even reply, press and hold the photo and run a reverse image search. If the face appears somewhere else under another name, close the chat.

Two more signs give a fake away. The rate is far below every other ad. And the girl is 'free right now' in whatever area you name, even if you change it twice. A real desk can tell you her name, where she lives and what she costs, and the answers stay the same when you ask again.

This one does not even need an ad. A stranger video-calls you on WhatsApp, often late in the evening. A woman on the screen starts to undress, and your own face is recorded the whole time. Minutes later you get a clip, sometimes with your face put onto an explicit video, and a threat: pay, or it goes to your family and your office.

Sometimes a second call follows, from a man who says he is a police officer and offers to 'close the case' for a fee. He is part of the same trick. The government's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has warned that the police, the CBI and judges do not arrest anyone on a video call.

It happens to careful men too, and most never report it. Bengaluru police officers have told Deccan Herald that fear and shame keep many victims away, and that this silence lets the same numbers trap other men. The simplest guard is to let unknown video calls ring out; WhatsApp also has a setting that silences calls from unknown numbers. If they already have a clip, do not argue or plead with them. Stop replying and follow the steps below.

Move fast, but stay calm. These steps work for both kinds of fraud.

• Stop replying. A Bengaluru police officer's advice is plain: end the chat the moment someone demands money or starts threatening you.
• Do not pay again. In one Bengaluru case reported in 2023, a man paid more than six lakh rupees over almost three months and was even told to borrow from loan apps to keep paying.
• Save the proof before you block anyone: screenshots of the chat and the profile, the phone number, the UPI ID or QR code, and your payment receipt.
• Call 1930, the national cyber crime helpline. A quick call can sometimes get the money frozen before it moves on, and Bengaluru police say the chance of getting it back is best within the first hour.
• File a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in: choose Financial Fraud if you paid money, or Other Cyber Crime for blackmail. Register with your name and mobile number, pick Karnataka as the state and upload your proof. You get a complaint number to track it.
• If anyone threatens you in person, call 112.

Every trick above needs you to pay before you meet. Our booking works the other way round. There is no advance at Neha Mari: you pay the girl herself, in cash or UPI, when she reaches you, and the rate on her card is the whole amount. If the girl who arrives is not the one you chose, she goes back and you owe nothing.

To book, we need only her name, where you are and a time. We do not ask for your photo or your ID. Our one number, +91 98801 82234, takes calls and WhatsApp; if someone uses the name Neha Mari with a different number, it is not us. Before you book anyone, anywhere, run the four checks before you book, and our six steps show the whole booking.