Ritu was neither a hacker nor a criminal by trade. But the 26-year-old woman from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh and living in Delhi with her husband found herself caught in a web of her own making — a fake Instagram account, a stolen identity, and a digital trap she designed to catch a ghost from her husband’s past.
It all began with a photograph. One group photo, to be precise. Shared casually by her husband sometime after their 2023 wedding, the image showed him surrounded by friends—nothing out of the ordinary. But for her, one face in that frame stood out. A woman. Something about her lingered in the wife’s mind.
Her husband followed the lady on Instagram. That was enough to flip a switch. A quiet suspicion turned into an all-consuming obsession.
Was there something going on? Was this woman from Delhi more than just an old friend? Ritu decided she had to know. At first, she tried the direct route—logging into her husband’s account and messaging the woman. What she said, only she and the victim know. But it wasn’t friendly.
“To confirm her suspicions, she allegedly sent inappropriate messages to the complainant from her husband’s account, which resulted in the complainant blocking him,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia.
Blocked. The door had slammed shut. But she wasn’t ready to give up.
Next came the alter ego. Ritu combed through the woman’s social media, collecting photos like puzzle pieces. A smiling portrait here.
A travel snap there. Using those stolen images, she created a fake Instagram account in the woman’s name. Her aim? To see if her husband would take the bait.
“The woman stole pictures from the victim’s social media handle and used them to create a fake account in her name,” said DCP Banthia.
The account didn’t just sit there. She used it actively, following the woman’s friends, sending messages, poking around online spaces where the real woman had a presence. To the outside world, the impersonator had become her.
But the real woman noticed.
Her inbox began to fill with messages from confused friends. “Is this your new account?” “Why are you messaging me like this?” Slowly, the terrifying truth began to take shape: someone was pretending to be her. “The complainant, a 30-year-old woman from Delhi, had approached the cyber police of north Delhi with a complaint that an unknown person had created a fake social media profile impersonating her and was attempting to contact her friends and colleagues through it,” said Banthia.
The cybercrime team took up the case. They traced the digital breadcrumbs—IP addresses, SIM card details, activity logs. The fake account had been registered using a number issued in Ghazipur. But the trail didn’t stop there. It led to a new location: Nangloi in Delhi. “Surveillance revealed that the SIM card linked to the fake account was issued in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Further analysis helped trace the current location of the accused to Nangloi in Delhi,” the DCP added.
A team moved in. They found her, phone in hand, unaware that her secret game was about to end. The phone and SIM card were seized. During questioning, she confessed—no hacking, no ransom plot, just jealousy, insecurity, and a desire to confirm a gut feeling.
“She confessed that she grew suspicious after her husband, whom she married in 2023, shared a photo with friends in which the complainant also appeared. Her husband also followed the complainant on social media, which led her to believe he might be interested in her,” said Banthia.
As the investigation continues, one thing is certain: trust, once broken, can push people to strange and desperate places. Even to the point of becoming someone else.
