• Source:JND
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New Delhi: As online dating grows in popularity, new scams are just waiting to take advantage of you. A Reddit post on how a Tinder date turned into a ₹50,000 coffee bill scam that went viral has led to a wider discourse on the dangers of meeting strangers through apps.

The Viral Reddit Post

A Reddit user narrated his episode under a thread titled “TINDER SCAM, [PSA] Got scammed on a Tinder date – beware of cafes running scams in Karkardooma (Delhi)”. Over 3,500 upvotes and 1,400+ comments later, posts were bubbling up, comments came flooding in with their own ghost stories.

The user says that he matched with a woman on Tinder and decided to meet up with her in a café in Karkardooma, (which is on the second floor of Chawla's building) near the metro station.

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How the Scam Played Out

At first, the meeting seemed ordinary. But once there, Dream had not been shown a proper menu, and whose staff reportedly continued to pressure the singer to buy pricey food and drinks when they were doing the opposite. He said every time he hesitated, the staff told him that he must add more items to the order.

He was presented with a bill of more than ₹50,000 by the night’s end. He added a photo of the receipt to back up his claims, and speculated the the whole thing was a sophisticated set-up that included the date and location of the café.

Not an Isolated Case

A viral thread unleashed an outpouring of stories to add their experiences. One commenter mentioned a case from Kolkata in which a student was charged ₹35,000 for items he never ordered at a restaurant; his case was brought before a consumer court which held them guilty for deficient service, ordering them to compensate him and pay penalties totalling ₹1.5 lakh plus pay compensation of ₹75,000 to him as compensation for deficiency in service provided.

Together, these incidents point to an alarming pattern: Multiple cafes are suspected of cooperating with fake dating profiles to lure customers before billing them with inflated or falsified bills.

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Growing Concerns Around Dating App Safety

Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have become increasingly popular among urbanites across the U.S., creating new opportunities for fraudsters to target victims. Fraudsters are taking advantage of these apps' increased usage to target unsuspecting users with romance scams combining romance scams with investment fraud - typically using online dating platforms to lure unsuspecting potential victims into investment schemes using romance scams as bait, as reported by Agari in its Friday report. Many Redditors warned that areas near metro stations and their cafes may contain such schemes that prey upon those unfamiliar with local surroundings or young professionals unfamiliar with its ways - especially targeting newcomers or young professionals unfamiliar with its ways.

To reduce the risk, cybersecurity experts and consumer rights advocates say users should:

  • Always meet in well-known cafés or public places with transparent pricing.
  • Check online reviews of a venue before visiting.
  • Avoid ordering without seeing a proper menu with prices listed.
  • Report suspicious incidents to consumer forums and local police.

The Takeaway

The Delhi episode is a glaring example of how romance scams have been maturing beyond the apps and websites that they were once confined to, and into the real world. A fun date can turn into a financial and emotional disaster without proper precautions.

As one Redditor put it: “When dealing with online dating, the biggest red flag isn’t the people you’re matched with—it’s where they want to take you.”