By News18
The Mumbai Police have busted a dating app scam and arrested 21 people, including six women. The members of the racket lured men to dates and trapped them with exorbitant bills, with the help of hotel staff, and forced them to pay the amount.
The arrests were made over the past five days.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the racket was busted after a 26-year-old man, who went on a date with a woman member of the gang, approached the police after finding something suspicious about bill.
HT citing police reported the complainant had matched with a woman named Disha Sharma on a dating app. They met for dinner at a hotel in Borivali where they were presented with a bill of Rs 35,000.
A loan recovery agent by profession, the complainant was taken aback by the exorbitant bill amount and called the police after suspected something fishy. Thereafter, the bill was brought down to Rs 30,000, after which Sharma offered to split it. The man paid Rs 15,000 by scanning a QR code provided by the waiter.
Later, he realized the payment was made to an individual named Mohammad Talib, not the hotel, prompting him to approach the police again. Subsequently, a case was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and IT Act.
As police launched an investigation, it was revealed that Sharma had conned the man with the help of hotel staff. On Thursday, she was tracked down to a hotel in Navi Mumbai鈥檚 Digha area and arrested. During interrogation, Sharma confessed to being part of a larger racket. The gang operated by creating fake profiles on dating apps, luring men to hotels, and issuing inflated fake bills with the help of staff.
Police subsequently arrested 20 other gang members, including five women. Police said all the accused belong to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and had come to Mumbai specifically to dupe people.