A Bengaluru man was duped of Rs 2 lakh in a horrifying honeytrap-extortion scheme after matching with a woman on Bumble. According to the NDTV report, police have arrested six people in connection with the case: Sharanabasappa, Raju Mane, Shyam Sundar, Abhishek, Birbal, and Sangeetha.

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The techie, who had been chatting and video calling the woman, identified as Sangeetha, for weeks, finally agreed to meet her in person. They met at a coffee shop, and everything appeared to go smoothly. Afterward, she suggested going to a private room for drinks.

However, what seemed like a promising date soon turned into a nightmare. As the two were sitting and talking, four men barged into the room, accused the man of being involved in a drug party, and threatened to call the police. They claimed they needed to search the room and pulled out packets of white powder from the woman’s bag, alleging it was drugs.

Sangeetha then started crying, ran into another room, and threatened suicide, saying she couldn’t face the consequences. Terrified and fearing arrest, the man begged to be let go. The group initially demanded Rs 15 lakh but eventually settled for Rs 2 lakh, which the techie paid.

Three days later, he lodged a police complaint, leading to the busting of an elaborate date-extortion racket. Investigations revealed the entire encounter, from the dating app match to the staged drama, was orchestrated to extort money. The white powder turned out to be baking soda.

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According to the NDTV report, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East Division) Sajeeth V J said, "One of the accused has a prior case for a similar offence in Bengaluru. We are verifying the criminal background of the others. The woman, we have learnt, hails from Uttar Pradesh and was working in a dance bar before this. We are investigating further. We are trying to ascertain how many such victims there are. They have confessed to having done it before, too. We will contact victims and get more details."