Story Content

In a heartbreaking case that has raised again the issue of risk of financial fraud, on-line, a 32 year old woman in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, reportedly killed herself on January 15, 2026, after being scammed out of 30 lakh by a person who she considered her close friend.

The victim Priya Sharma (in some reports, the name was changed due to privacy) was reportedly constantly in touch with one of the women she had known through social media and who was subsequently befriended. The alleged woman, who also lives in Ghaziabad, acquired the confidence of Priya after months of meeting and pretending to be a friendly neighbor who was going through a bad financial time, as it was alleged by the family in their complaint at Indirapuram Police Station.

Priya supposedly transferred an amount of 30 lakh in small instalments between December 2025 and February 2026, of which she believed the money was to be used on some urgent medical attention to the relative of the friend and other legitimate needs. Threatening to block, change numbers, and cease the responses when Priya continuously requested to repay her the accused allegedly blocked her. The daily harassment, the fear of being defamed and the accumulating economic strain are said to have sent Priya into deep depression.

Priya was hanged in her bedroom by her family on the evening of February 15. Fraud, emotional blackmail and her inability to confront the loss of money and her family humiliation were pointed out in a suicide note found at the scene. She allegedly wrote that she borrowed money off family and took personal loans to make her friend not leaving her family in great debt.

The accused woman was registered against in the FIR filed by the Indirapuram police against her under the following sections; 306 (abetment to suicide), 420 (cheating), 406(criminal breach of trust) and the following sections of the IT Act. Cyber cell teams are taking the digital routes, WhatsApp messages, bank documents, and social networks to form the case. The accused is still absconding and not yet recaptured (STB, February 17, 2026).

The family of Priya organized a demonstration in front of the police station, insisting on the arrest, complete refund of money, and more severe penalties on online emotional and financial abuse. She was her sister... and now, her brother informed reporters, we have nothing but arrears and sorrow.

The case is also a part of the increasing number of fraud-related suicides in the NCR, which makes cyber experts and NGOs revive their demands to promote awareness, increase the number of KYC requirements applied to digital lending applications, and perform a compulsory verification of high-value transactions. Citizens were encouraged by police to check identity and never loan out huge amounts of money depending on internet friendships.