Staying safe on online rishta sites

Before you share personal details

• Your number, email and social handles are removed from messages automatically, so you do not have to share them early.
• Use in-app voice and video calls: the other person never sees your number, and calls are not recorded.
• Keep your photos private until you approve a request. Never send a photograph you would not want a stranger to hold on to.
• Do not share your home address, workplace details, CNIC or bank details.

Warning signs of a scam

• Asks for money, gifts, a loan, help with a visa, or an “investment”.
• Says they are abroad and cannot video call, or always has an excuse. Someone who refuses to appear on video for weeks is telling you something.
• Rushes to talk of love or marriage, or pushes you to move to WhatsApp in the first hour.
• Details or photos do not match, or the story keeps changing.
• Pressures you to keep things secret from your family.

Scams we see most often

• The “gift stuck at customs” story. Someone overseas says they sent you a gift, and a “courier” or “customs officer” asks you to pay a fee to release it. There is no gift.
• The emergency. A sudden accident, hospital bill, arrest or frozen bank account — always with a request for money, urgently and secretly.
• The visa or job promise. An offer to arrange a visa, a job abroad or a “processing fee” for your move after marriage.
• The impressive title. A profile claiming to be a doctor, officer, pilot or businessman abroad, with borrowed photos and no way to verify any of it.
• The investment. A tip about crypto, trading or a “family business” that you can join if you send money first.
• The mobile load or small favour. Small requests for mobile balance or a few thousand rupees are a test. They grow.

If any of these sound familiar, stop replying and report the profile. If money has already been sent, tell your bank straight away, and do not send more to “recover” it — that is the second stage of the same fraud.

Safe voice and video calls

• Use the call buttons inside RishteDesk. Your number stays private and the call is not recorded by us.
• Remember that the other person could still record their own screen. Never do or show anything on a call that you would not want kept.
• It is fine to have a family member with you on a call, and to end any call that makes you uncomfortable.
• Anyone who threatens to share a recording unless you pay is committing a crime — do not pay, keep the evidence and report it.

Protect your account

• Never share your password or a sign-in code. RishteDesk staff will never ask for either, by message, email or phone.
• Pay for membership only through the official payment page on rishtedesk.com, to the account shown there. We never ask anyone to pay a person directly.
• Turn on two-step sign-in in your security settings, and check the list of signed-in devices from time to time.
• Be careful with links sent in messages. Sign in only at rishtedesk.com or in the RishteDesk app.

Check before you commit

• Look for verification badges; they appear only after evidence is checked. A badge confirms a check was passed, not a person’s character.
• Video call before meeting, more than once.
• Families should make their own enquiries about background, marital status and family, as they would for any rishta.

For parents and walis

• You can join a conversation openly as a wali, with the member’s permission. Everyone in the chat can see who is present.
• A weekly summary tells you how active the conversations are and whether anything was flagged for safety — without showing the messages themselves.
• Talk with your son or daughter about the warning signs on this page. Most scams depend on secrecy.

Meeting in person

• Meet in a busy public place, with family present.
• Arrange your own transport, and keep your phone charged.
• Tell someone you trust where you are going and when you will be back.
• Do not travel to another city or country to meet someone you have not already met with your family.

If you are harassed or blackmailed

• Stop responding, block the person, and report them on RishteDesk. You never owe a stranger an explanation.
• Keep screenshots and other evidence.
• Online harassment and blackmail are offences under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016, and you can report them to Pakistan's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).
• If you are in immediate danger, call 15 (police).

What we do on our side

• Email verification for every member, and every profile read by a person before it appears.
• Duplicate-photo and duplicate-identity detection, so a stolen photo or a second account is flagged.
• Automatic flagging of money requests, mass messaging and abusive language into a queue a person works through.
• An audit trail on every decision our staff make.
• Identity document numbers are never stored — we keep the verification result, not the document.