A courting app rip-off concentrating on males in Mumbai has been uncovered, with victims dealing with payments between Rs 23,000 and Rs 61,000. In keeping with X consumer Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, the scheme entails ladies utilizing well-liked courting apps resembling Tinder, Bumble, Happn, and QuackQuack to entice unsuspecting males into pricey nightclubs.
The rip-off operates by ladies swiftly matching with males on courting apps and proposing quick meetups at particular places. As soon as on the venue, the ladies order costly objects, usually not on the menu, earlier than abruptly leaving for numerous causes. The lads are then left with hefty payments; some have reported dealing with threats from membership employees once they protest.
Bhardwaj studies that the rip-off is prevalent, with at the least 10 males turning into victims each day at a single nightclub. The ladies concerned obtain 15-20% of the invoice as a fee, indicating a doubtlessly organized scheme that may contain nightclub administration.
Regardless of quite a few cyber complaints from victims, the rip-off persists at numerous places throughout Mumbai. The Godfather Membership in Andheri West has been highlighted as a serious hotspot for these fraudulent actions, though different venues are additionally concerned.
Many victims have been reluctant to report these incidents to authorities resulting from considerations about private publicity. Comparable scams have been reported in main Indian cities, together with Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. In June, a person in Delhi was scammed equally, ending up with an enormous Rs 1.2 lac invoice.
Mumbai Police have introduced that senior officers on the involved police station have been notified and an investigation is in progress. Authorities consider there could also be a bigger community of nightclubs utilizing PR employees to recruit ladies to lure males by means of courting apps.
