BharatMatrimony Under Fire For Using Married Woman's Photo In 'Elite' Profile
“More acrimony than matrimony, I guess!” wrote Swati Mukund on Instagram after her photo appeared under a fake profile on BharatMatrimony.
BharatMatrimony has been facing backlash after a married woman’s photo appeared on its elite subscription service under a fake profile. Swati Mukund, who clarified she didn’t meet her husband through any matrimonial app, warned users about what she called the “BharatMatrimony Scam" and urged them to exercise caution when searching for partners on the platform.
“More acrimony than matrimony, I guess!" she wrote while sharing the video. She added, “Husband is in the first part of the video to make sure that they don’t use our photo and then later claim that we found each other on their app." She tagged BharatMatrimony on Instagram.
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The video opens with Mukund saying, “So, this is a post on India’s number 1 and supposedly most trusted matrimonial app, BharatMatrimony." A screengrab from the app displaying her picture and the words “BharatMatrimony Scam" appear on the video.
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She continues, “As you can see the picture used is of mine and for the record this is my husband (gesturing to the man sitting behind her). No, I didn’t find him on any of these apps."
“Now what really appalled me is the fact that it is BharatMatrimony’s elite subscription service where they are actually charging people pots of money and they claim that they are screening and carefully curating profiles to make sure their users find the right life partner on this app," she expresses shock over the situation.
She then asks, “How on earth are you doing it?"
Towards the end of the video, Mukund warns users of the platform, “Clearly it’s not working. But this is an urge to all the users of this platform to make sure that you are exercising discretion before using any of these apps because obviously what you see is not what you always get."
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The screenshot from the app shows Mukund’s picture on the profile of someone named Nithya Raja Sekar, listed as a 35-year-old, 5’9" Brahmin with a B.Tech degree. Sekar is identified as a fitness professional from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with a “Newly Joined" tag claiming she recently signed up on the platform.
In response, an individual said, “I faced the same issues in BharatMatrimony. It had my photos saying divorcee seeking a suitable groom whereas I’ve not married even once in my life."
Another added, “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 and they told me that the profile was created a week ago by my father."
“I have used their elite matrimony paying 1.5 lakhs. It’s the biggest scam. They give you the same few options over and over for one year," expressed a third.
A fourth commented, “It’s all a scam. Over the years my parents and I went through hell and it was all fake. Now, I’m totally done with all this. I just hope people don’t fall prey to such matrimony apps."
BharatMatrimony’s statement
BharatMatrimony issued a statement following the backlash, clarifying that the profile was not created by the company. They added that profile misuse is an industry-wide issue and that such cases are rare, given their millions of yearly members. They remain committed to improving platform safety.
“First of all, we would like to clarify that this video wrongly claims the profile was made on EliteMatrimony, which is our personalised and confidential offline service. The profile in question was actually created on one of our online matrimony platforms, and not by the company, contrary to what has been claimed in some media articles," BharatMatrimony co-founder and CEO Murugavel Janakiraman told News18.com.
He added, “Posting of profiles by others is allowed, as almost 15% are made by parents and another 10% by siblings/relatives. Unfortunately, this can lead to an issue of misuse, where someone takes public pictures and creates a profile. This is an industry-wide problem, as we don’t have a foolproof way to prevent this completely."
Janakiraman highlighted that six million members join their platform annually, and despite their safety measures, only a small number of such cases occur.
“Millions have found their life partners through us and consider our service a boon. We have always been a pioneer in the matchmaking industry, with immense trust and credibility, and we continue to evolve and make our platform more safe and secure," he further noted.
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