Delhi cafes ‘hiring girls’ to scam customers, says Bumble user conned out of Rs 15,000

A Twitter user has written about how he was scammed by a woman he met on Bumble

A Delhi man was scammed out of more than Rs 15,000 after going on a date with a woman he met on the dating app Bumble. In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Archit Gupta revealed how he paid a hugely inflated bill at the Rajouri Garden restaurant where he met the woman for a date. He said the restaurant was working in collusion with the woman to attract unwary customers who were then made to pay a huge bill that far exceeded the actual value of the items they ordered.

This scam is not a new one. Social media and Reddit forums are full of accounts from men who were scammed out of their money after meeting women through dating apps like Bumble and Tinder. The modus operandi of these scams is simple – the woman insists on meeting the man at a specific restaurant only. Once there, she orders food and, usually, some alcohol, before making some excuse and leaving. The man is then stuck with an inflated bill.

In Gupta’s case, the bill amounted to Rs 15,886 for a Red Bull, a hookah, one shot of vodka, two to three glasses of wine, a plate of chicken tikka and a bottle of water.

In his account of the scam, Gupta, 25, said he met the girl named Divya Sharma on Bumble. She was likely operating under a fake name, he said. Sharma, or Aifya as her name appeared on Truecaller, asked Gupta to meet at a particular restaurant in the Rajouri Garden area of Delhi.

Fraud Alert: Met a girl on @bumble, went to The Race Lounge & Bar in Rajouri Garden. She ordered drinks and the bill was Rs 15,886. Realised it was a scam. Discovered many people are scammed. @Cyberdost 1930 not working, @DelhiPolice please take action. Read the whole story: pic.twitter.com/Ux18iYSRm1

— Archit Gupta (@Architguptajii) November 11, 2023

“I was shocked after seeing the bill. I paid for the bill. They tapped my card four times as there was some issue with their machine,” he added.

After paying the bill, Gupta went to the washroom. By the time he returned, the bill kept on the table had disappeared, and his date insisted on leaving quickly. It was only when he reached home that Gupta realised he had been scammed.

He checked Bumble and realised the woman had “disappeared” – she also began to ignore his phone calls.

Searching on the internet directed Gupta to a Moneycontrol story about a similar scam. He also read Google reviews of The Race Lounge and Bar and realised that many other men had been scammed in similar ways.

Another victim of this scam. @DelhiPolice please see this. https://t.co/MBcuaGP4zG

— Archit Gupta (@Architguptajii) November 11, 2023

“I got to know about how these clubs and bars are hiring girls and doing this fraud,” wrote Gupta on X as he tagged Delhi Police to investigate this and similar frauds.

In September, a Reddit user had written a post about how he was scammed by a woman he met on Tinder. The woman asked him to meet at a restaurant in Rajouri Garden and left him with a bill amounting of Rs 14,000.