Aspiring bureaucrat duped of ₹1.2 lakh by Tinder 'date'
In another deceptive tactic that scammers have come up with, an aspiring bureaucrat in New Delhi was duped of ₹1.2 lakh by a group that uses a woman as bait to lure victims on dating apps. The man had met the woman, Versha, on Tinder, and after establishing rapport, they arranged to meet at the Black Mirror Cafe on Vikas Marg in East Delhi to celebrate her birthday. It was here that he was forced to pay ₹1,21,917.70.
How the scam unfolded
Once at the cafe, the two ordered some snacks, two cakes, and four shots of a non-alcoholic drink. As the date was ending, the woman left, feigning a family emergency, and he was left to pay the bill. To his horror, when the bill was presented to him, it showed ₹1,21,917.70. When he contested the hefty bill, he was threatened and detained until he transferred the full amount online to Akshay Pahwa, a co-owner of the cafe.
Cafe owner arrested in connection with dating scam
After escaping from the cafe, he promptly reported the incident to local authorities. A four-member police team led by Inspector Sanjay Gupta was assembled to investigate and quickly apprehended Pahwa for questioning, NDTV reported. During interrogation, Pahwa revealed that he co-owns the Black Mirror Cafe with Ansh Grover and Vansh Pahwa. He disclosed their scheme involving "table managers" who create fake profiles on dating apps to lure unsuspecting men into their cafe.
Scam operation unveiled: Fake dating profiles and overcharging
The woman, Versha, was later identified as 25-year-old Afsan Parveen, who also goes by the aliases Ayesha and Noor. When the police tracked her down, she was found at another cafe on a date with a man she had met on Shaadi.com. She confessed to the police that 15% of the money scammed from victims went to her, 45% was divided between table managers and cafe managers, while the remaining 40% went to the owners.
Police have arrested woman
It was also revealed that the victim was contacted by Aryan, posing as Versha. He had sent Parveen's photo in one-time view mode and invited him to Laxmi Nagar on June 23rd to celebrate her birthday. The police have arrested Parveen and Pahwa and seized their phones as well as the cafe's register. The investigation is ongoing, and efforts are being made to arrest the other offenders, according to the police.
