The rip-off is now at play in a number of key cities, together with Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. (Representational)
New Delhi:
A civil service aspirant from Delhi, whose date with a lady he met on a relationship app resulted in a Rs 1.20 lakh invoice at a restaurant, is simply one of many many circumstances of ‘Tinder rip-off’ that has grow to be rampant in main cities. Most of those circumstances go unreported as a result of the victims don’t need their households to know they’re on a relationship app.
A number of posts on Reddit, a few of them a 12 months outdated, narrate accounts of people that have been scammed into paying exorbitant quantities throughout dates with girls they met on relationship apps. Whereas NDTV can’t confirm the authenticity of every of those apps, they level to a typical modus operandi.
How Is The Sufferer Lured
The sufferer matches with the girl on a relationship app equivalent to Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and OKCupid. She readily shares her WhatsApp quantity they usually get speaking. Quickly, a date is deliberate. The lady then insists that they meet at a selected locality and that there are a lot of cafes and pubs there. When the sufferer asks the identify of the cafe for instructions, the girl tells him to satisfy at a selected Metro station and that they will go from there.
On the cafe, the girl locations the order. Wanting to impress his date, the sufferer often doesn’t suspect any foul play. Thereafter, the girl orders one thing that will not be on the menu. In some case, the girl fakes an emergency and leaves the cafe in a rush. When the invoice comes, the sufferer realises it’s a number of instances of what he had estimated. On protesting, he’s threatened by the cafe employees or bouncers. Left with little alternative, he pays. Most individuals don’t method the police as a result of a probe might divulge to his household that he’s assembly folks by way of a relationship app.
Many Gamers Concerned
Within the newest Delhi incident that focused an IAS aspirant, police have arrested the cafe’s proprietor Akshay Pahwa and the sufferer’s ‘date’ Afsan Parveen. Police stated this rip-off thrives on an elaborate mechanism involving a number of gamers — cafe house owners, managers and ladies who lure the goal.
Every participant has a minimize: Akshay Pahwa instructed police that 15 per cent of the invoice goes to the girl, 45 per cent is split between the managers and the remaining 40 per cent to the house owners.
In his account, a Reddit person has stated his ‘date’ randomly ordered some firecrackers that jacked up the invoice to over Rs 40,000.
“Some couple was burning anar firecracker indoors… The lady insisted that we must also do it. I stated no, possibly 100 instances. She nonetheless ordered it, burned it. I did not take part. After this, I misplaced my curiosity and referred to as for the invoice. I calculated it in my thoughts to be 7-10k. If she splits, then okay else, I’ll pay and simply depart. Boy, was I incorrect? The invoice got here at 45k… These anar firecrackers have been of 2k every x15 = 30k,” he has stated. One other person stated that after he was scammed, he realised that the person on the following desk was a sufferer too.
Not Simply Delhi
This rip-off is in play at main cities, together with Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, police stated throughout its investigation into the Rajouri Backyard incident concentrating on the IAS aspirant. Earlier this month, activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj posted on X a couple of related racket working in Hyderabad.
## HYDERABAD DATING SCAM ALERT ##
â—¾1 membership, completely different names, day by day trapping
â—¾3 males scammed by identical lady reached out
â—¾8 victims in contact, scammed at identical membership
â—¾Entice laid via Tinder, Bumble
◾Invoice quantities of 20-40K@hydcitypolice@TelanganaDGP@TelanganaCOPs@zomatopic.twitter.com/06xtRp6fHO— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) June 6, 2024
The victims’ accounts revealed that the identical membership was working below three completely different names and the identical lady was reaching out to a number of folks on relationship apps and luring them to the pub. The sufferer would order a number of photographs and the invoice would go as much as over Rs 20,000. In some circumstances, it was as excessive as Rs 40,000. The victims, usually, don’t file a police criticism or write about it on social media as a result of they wish to keep nameless. The scamsters transfer to the following goal.
Girls Targets Too
It is not simply males who’re turning into targets on relationship apps. Earlier this month, Delhi Police arrested two males for befriending girls on relationship apps and allegedly robbing them at their houses, PTI has reported.
The police recognized the accused as Vijay Kumar Kamal (28) and Rahul (35). The matter got here to gentle on Could 31 when a 35-year-old lady filed a criticism {that a} man, who launched himself as Jatin on a relationship app, robbed her in her home, senior police officer Ankit Singh stated. The sufferer instructed the police that she and Jatin (Vijay Kumar Kamal) used to speak over messages earlier than he and Rahul visited her home on Could 30. They tied her palms, taped her mouth and assaulted her, Singh stated. “Each robbed her gold ornaments, cell phone, and Rs 5,000 money and fled, the officer stated. “With the arrest of the accused, a complete of 4 circumstances have been labored out of Dabri, Dwarka North, south Rohini, and north Rohini of the identical nature. Additional interrogation is underway to seek out out different victims, if any.”
