India, Dec. 21 -- Bengaluru has been seeing bright tents lining bus stands and crowded junctions that promised "sure-shot cures" for sexual problems, stress and anxiety, for years. With bold lettering and instant solutions, they drew in people weighed down by embarrassment and fear of being judged. Today, those tents have largely disappeared from the city's main roads, but the business itself reportedly hasn't vanished. It has quietly slipped into residential bylanes and highway edges, away from watchful eyes.

The trigger for this sudden retreat was a shocking fraud case that jolted the city. A software engineer seeking help for sexual health issues after marriage was allegedly cheated of Rs.48 lakh by a fake healer operating from a tent...