DELHI TINDER SCAM: UPSC ASPIRANT HONEY-TRAPPED ON DATING APP, SCAMMED OF RS 1.2 LAKH; POLICE UNEARTH RACKET

Delhi News: A civil service aspirant in New Delhi was scammed through a dating app, a cafe, and a well-coordinated scheme targeting unsuspecting men. The incident took place on Sunday when the victim arrived at the Black Mirror Cafe in East Delhi's Vikas Marg to celebrate the birthday of Versha, a woman he had recently matched with on Tinder. They ordered snacks, two cakes and four non-alcoholic beverages.

The situation took an unexpected turn when Versha left abruptly due to a family emergency. When the man finished his meal and requested the bill, he was stunned to find it totalled Rs 1,21,917.70, an amount far exceeding the actual cost of the food, which should have been only a few thousand rupees.

Promptly disputing the bill, the victim was threatened, confined and ultimately forced to make an online transfer of the amount to one of the cafe's owners, 32-year-old Akshay Pahwa, a resident of Shahdara in East Delhi with a 10th-grade education.

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Upon leaving the cafe, the man immediately reported the incident to the police, leading to an investigation led by Inspector Sanjay Gupta and his four-member team. The probe revealed a well-orchestrated scheme involving the cafe's owners, Akshay Pahwa, Ansh Grover and Vansh Pahwa (who are cousins), as well as several "table managers" employed by the establishment.

According to the police, the scam's modus operandi involved the "table managers" creating fake profiles on dating apps and luring unsuspecting men to the cafe. Once at the cafe, the women, such as 25-year-old Afsan Parveen (also known as Ayesha and Noor), would feign a family emergency and leave, leaving the victims to face an inflated bill and threats of confinement and violence if they refused to pay.

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The profits from this scheme were then divided, with 15 per cent going to Parveen, 45 per cent to the table and cafe manager and the remaining 40 per cent to the cafe's owners. Authorities have revealed that similar scams are being perpetrated in other major metropolitan areas, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The police have arrested Pahwa and Parveen, seizing their phones and the cafe's register as part of the ongoing investigation. Efforts are being made to apprehend the other individuals involved in the scheme.