Ghaziabad: 

The Uttar Pradesh Police has uncovered a racket that used dating apps to lure people only to rob and threaten them. On Thursday (24th October), police arrested eight people including five women, a manager, and two café owners, for their role in the scam. The arrests occurred following a raid at Tiger Café near Kaushambi Metro Station.

According to the police, the girls used to call boys to “Tiger Café” through dating apps and then blackmail them by holding them hostage. These girls from Delhi used to charge a good amount of money from the boys. In fact, whatever the victim used to order, many times more money was charged than that.

A youth resident of Delhi had given a complaint in Kaushambi police station in which he told that an illegal cafe is running in Kaushambi, Ghaziabad. In which crimes like blackmail, ransom, kidnapping and honey trap are taking place.

According to the police, the main suspects have been identified as Khalid alias Imran from Shaheednagar and his associates Sumit and Nadeem from Delhi.

The police said that the accused used to invite people to the cafe via dating apps to ‘meet girls’ and charge them exorbitant amounts for the cost of food. When the victim refused to pay the amount, they would take him hostage and demand payment. After receiving a complaint, the police arrested eight persons, including five girls.

On Tuesday, a man called Vikas Gupta, a resident of Dayalpur, Delhi, filed a complaint alleging that he was chatting with a girl online for a few days and that on 21st October, they met at Kaushambi metro station and walked down to Tiger Café. In the FIR, the victim said that when the duo arrived at the café, it was empty and his date (one of the arrested girls) ordered a soft drink. However, as the two were leaving the café, the staff handed them a bill of Rs 16,000 just for a soft drink.

The victim sensed the scam and sent his live location to a friend seeking his help. He claimed that when he did not pay the bill, he was held hostage by the café staff and they now demanded Rs 50,000. Meanwhile, the victim’s friend informed the police about the matter at around 7 pm, and by 8 pm, the police had rescued the victim. The victim said that by the time police rescued him, the scamsters had taken Rs 4500 from his pocket and compelled him to make an online payment of Rs 2000. In response to the complaint filed by the victim, Kaushambi police registered an FIR on 23rd October and arrested three youths: Khalid alias Imran, a resident of Sahibabad; Nadeem, a resident of Shastri Park, Delhi; and Sumit, a resident of Kalyanpuri, Delhi, as well as five girls: Sanjana Gujjar, Nisha Rana, Deepanshika, all of whom are from Delhi, and Aksha, a resident of Ghaziabad. Initially, the accused managed to escape and were later caught by the police.

Meanwhile, Nimish Patil, DCP Trans-Hindon, said the FIR was filed at Kaushambi police station against all the accused under BNS sections 127 (2) (wrongful confinement), and 308 (2) (extortion). The officer said that another investigation into police negligence has been initiated to find out the reason why the police didn’t take action when the victim’s friend dialed 112 for help.

In August this year, a similar dating scam was reported after Mid-Day sent some reporters posing as men looking for dates on dating apps and published a report based on the findings. 

After receiving complaints on the scam from readers, the publication in July got its correspondences to open accounts in dating apps. Within 24 hours of opening, they received a large number of matches, with women offering to meet them at pubs and clubs. In every incident where the reporters arrived for the date, the women ran up hefty bills by ordering expensive drinks in a short period of time and then fled using some excuse. The reporters also saw the same women going back to the same establishment with a different man after some time. Eventually, the kingpin of the scam Ankur Meena was arrested from Delhi by Mumbai Police.

Article written by and Editorial credit: State Bureau Chief Himanshu Nauriyal.