Hyderabad cops arrest seven for duping men via dating app

Hyderabad Police on Wednesday apprehended seven people from Maharashtra in connection with a dating scam that was being run in the city’s pubs. Police from the city’s Madhapur area uncovered the scam and traced the perpetrators to Nagpur, eventually arresting six members of a gang and one pub organiser.

The suspects involved in the scam targeted young men through dating apps, enticing them with promises of dates with women at pubs located in Hyderabad’s Madhapur area.

Once at the venue, the men were allegedly coerced into paying hefty bills for expensive food and alcohol ordered by their supposed dates. Subsequently, the pub owners and the gang members colluded to divide the money obtained from these transactions among themselves.

Seven individuals, namely Aakash Kumar, Suraj Kumar, Akshat Narula, Tarun Verma, Pankaj Jain, Mukesh Kumar, and the pub organizer Sumit Malhotra, were apprehended by Hyderabad Police in connection with this fraudulent operation. The gang’s activities resulted in duping unsuspecting victims of approximately Rs.30 lakhs.

The gang operated by registering women on dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. Subsequently, one of the gang members would engage in conversations with unsuspecting victims on these dating platforms, ultimately enticing them to visit a pub in Hyderabad.

According to police reports, the gang had established arrangements with pub owners in the Madhapur area. A case pertaining to this scam had been filed by Madhapur police a week prior.

“They used to select the target on the dating apps and convince them to come to a pub in the city where they would later order food and alcohol worth several thousand rupees. The victim would then be forced to foot the bill,” a police official explained.