IAS aspirant scammed on Tinder date at Delhi cafe, forced to pay Rs 1.2 lakh bill. Full story

The victim questioned the exorbitant amount but was threatened and coerced into paying the bill.

An aspiring civil service candidate in East Delhi was scammed out of Rs 1.2 lakh by a Tinder date. The victim had met a woman named Versha on the dating app and agreed to celebrate her birthday at the Black Mirror Cafe in Vikas Marg, according to an NDTV report.

Upon arriving at the cafe, the pair ordered snacks, two cakes, and four non-alcoholic beverages. However, Versha abruptly left, citing a family emergency. When the victim received the bill, he was stunned to see a charge of Rs 1,21,917.70 for what should have been a modest meal.

The victim questioned the exorbitant amount but was threatened and coerced into paying the bill. He ultimately transferred the money online to one of the cafe's owners, Akshay Pahwa. Pahwa, a 32-year-old resident of Shahdara, East Delhi, has an educational background that extends only to the 10th grade.

Disturbed by the incident, the victim filed a complaint on the same day. The police swiftly apprehended Pahwa. The subsequent investigation uncovered that the Black Mirror Cafe is co-owned by Akshay Pahwa, Vansh Pahwa, and Ansh Grover. The establishment employs several "table managers," including Aryan, a class 7 dropout.

Police discovered that Aryan had impersonated Versha, using a one-time view feature to share her photo and invite the victim to the cafe. The entire scam was meticulously planned, including the fabricated family emergency. Each member of the scam team had a predetermined share of the loot: 15% went to the person posing as Versha, 45% was divided between the table managers and cafe staff, and 40% was allocated to the owners.

Such scams are becoming increasingly common in major Indian cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Earlier this year, three individuals were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 28-year-old businessman they had targeted through Tinder five years ago.