Married woman's photo used in fake 'elite' profile on Bharat Matrimony, lists her as 'newly joined'

Swati Mukund brought in her husband as she spoke about Bharat Matrimony using her picture. (Image credit: @swatimukund/Instagram)

A married woman’s picture was found in a fake profile on Bharat Matrimony’s elite subscription service, sparking a heated conversation online, after the woman in the picture raised an alarm. Swati Mukund publicly condemned what she is calling the “BharatMatrimony Scam,” urging people to exercise caution when using the platform.

Mukund shared her grievances in a widely circulated video, which begins with her saying, “This is a post on India’s number one and supposedly most trusted matrimonial app, BharatMatrimony,” while showing a screenshot featuring her photo along with the text “BharatMatrimony Scam.”

The fake profile in question, listed under the name Nithya Raja Sekar, displays Mukund’s photo, with details claiming she is a 35-year-old fitness expert from Chennai. The profile was marked “Newly Joined” and that she was Brahmin.

In the video, she introduces her husband, clarifying, “No, I didn’t meet him through any of these apps,” and expressed disbelief at how such an error could happen on BharatMatrimony’s “elite” service, known for its hefty fees and supposed rigorous screening process.

Mukund expressed her dismay: “It’s shocking because this is BharatMatrimony’s elite subscription service, where they charge people a lot of money and claim to screen profiles carefully. But how are they doing that?”

Ending the video with a stern warning to potential users, she added, “Clearly, it’s not working. This is a reminder to all users to be careful on these platforms because what you see isn’t always what you get.”

The post, tagged with BharatMatrimony’s official Instagram handle, was captioned, “More acrimony than matrimony, I guess!” Mukund noted that she deliberately included her husband in the video to prevent the platform from falsely associating their marriage with a connection made on BharatMatrimony.

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BharatMatrimony issued a comment under Mukund’s viral post, apologising and stating, “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused. We have suspended this profile and are conducting a thorough investigation on how it got published. We’ll DM you shortly with further details.”

Mukund’s video, which has garnered over a million views, has opened a floodgate of responses from Instagram users.

“Bharat Matrimony should sponsor your wedding again complete with new age menus, perfume bars, drone photography, and all that stuff,” one user joked.

One user shared their shocking experience: “My fake profile was created on one of those apps after my father's demise (about 4 years of it) it had random partner choice answers and no pictures of mine or so... when I started receiving calls and emails for ridiculous other such fake profiles, I spoke to their customer care where they told me that the profile was created a week ago by my father.”

A third wrote: “I faced the same issues in Bharat Matrimony. It had my photos saying divorcee seeking a suitable groom. Whereas I'm not married even once in my life.”

In a follow up comment, Bharat Matrimony came back with an update on the resolution.

“The profile was created on BharatMatrimony using your public pictures. We have not only suspended the account but also banned the associated mobile number from our system. Regarding your mention of EliteMatrimony, we want to clarify that the profile is not associated with this service. EliteMatrimony is a personalized, offline-only service with all member profiles being confidential. Please be assured that we have taken all necessary actions to prevent such incidents from recurring,” the company wrote.