Man duped by Tinder date at Delhi cafe, forced to pay Rs 1.2 lakh bill

A man's search for a date in Delhi landed him in a costly scam as he lost over Rs 1.2 lakh. An aspiring civil service candidate, the man matched with a woman named Varsha on Tinder, a dating app, and planned to meet her.

He arranged to celebrate her birthday at the Black Mirror Cafe on Vikas Marg on June 23.

Upon arriving at the cafe, the couple ordered some snacks, two cakes, and Varsha consumed four shots of fruit wine. However, the evening took a sudden turn when Versha claimed a family emergency and abruptly left.

Later, the man was astounded to be presented with an exorbitant bill of Rs 1,21,917.70 for the food that should not have cost more than a few thousand. When the man questioned the excessive bill, he was threatened and coerced into paying the amount.

The man, whose identity was not revealed by the police, ended up transferring the amount online to Akshay Pahwa, one of the cafe owners, a 32-year-old from Shahdara, East Delhi.

Soon after exiting the cafe, the man rushed to a police station and filed a complaint. Police immediately arrested Akshay and during questioning he disclosed that the Black Mirror Café is owned by him, his cousin Vansh Pahwa and their friend, Ansh Grover. The cafe also employs several "table managers", including one man named Aryan, a Class 7 dropout who is currently unemployed.

Akshay further revealed the real identity of Varsha as 25-year-old Afsan Parveen, also known as Aaysha or Noor.

With the help of technical surveillance, the police arrested Afsan at another cafe, where she was on a 'date' with a boy from Mumbai, whom she had met through Shadi.com.

During the interrogation, Afsan told police that it was Aryan who reached out to the civil service aspirant and communicated with him posing as Varsha. Aryan shared a one-time view picture of Afsan with the man and invited him to Laxmi Nagar on June 23 to celebrate her birthday.

Police also found that the exorbitant bills charged by people were divided by the Black Mirror Cafe in a fixed ratio: 15 per cent to the girl, 45 per cent between the table and café managers, and the remaining 40 per cent to the owners.

Further investigation into the matter is underway and efforts are being made to arrest other co-accused.

Several such schemes operate in major metro cities like Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, aiming to extort money. The modus operandi involves collusion between café owners, managers, and individuals who trap targets through dating apps.

These individuals, known as 'table managers', create fake profiles on dating apps and lure people to the café, where they are overcharged for food and drinks.

If the man refuses to pay, they are threatened, beaten, or confined until they comply.