Friends turn detectives to bust Tinder date scam at Andheri cafe, eight arrested

Furious that their friend had been duped of Rs 15000 by scammers lurking on Tinder 10 youths put their heads together and created profiles on the popular dating app to trap the accused One of them then went on a date with a woman linked to the gang as a decoy for the police which culminated in a raid on the Heaven Terrace 72 Cafe in Sakinaka Andheri East mdash carried out under the supervision of Datta Nalawade DCP of Zone X mdash and arrests of eight people allegedly involved in the racket on March 13An exchange where the woman suggested that Yadav meet her in Andheri EastSting operationgtgt Yadav was contacted by a woman named ldquoMahirardquo on Tinder firstgtgt After chatting on apps she invited him to meet near the Sakinaka Metro station and then the cafe where his friend had allegedly been dupedgtgt During the meeting the woman ordered about six tequila shots in 40 minutes Upon checking it was discovered that the billed amount was R18616 Yadav then alerted DCP Nalawadegtgt Acting on his signal the Sakinaka police raided the cafeThe exorbitant bill racked up by the woman who ordered six tequila shots in 40 minutesModus operandi according to FIRgtgt The gang allegedly created fake profiles of women on Tinder to lure unsuspecting men to a certain establishmentgtgt Victims were invited on dates to the same cafe in Sakinaka Andheri Eastgtgt Once inside they were pressured to order expensive liquor and foodgtgt Later they were forced to pay heavily inflated billsFrom left Anmol Kamerkar Nishikant Marchande Nitin Zinjurte Pankaj Yadav Dinesh Jadhav Abhishek Salgaokar and Atun Mundaye some of the friends who helped bust the alleged racketFriends turned detectivesgtgt The scam came to light when Pankaj Yadav 38 a textile businessman decided to expose the racket after his friend was cheated a few months agogtgt Yadav said their group an NGO often collects funds to help poor patients get treatment and they didnrsquot want others to fall prey to the scamHeaven Terrace 72 Cafe staff are brought to heel during the raid PicsBy Special ArrangementThreats to victimsAccording to Yadav victims who refused to pay were threatened by cafe staff and bouncers who allegedly warned they would implicate them in false sexual assault cases forcing many to pay and leave quietlyCase registeredA Tinder profile picture of the woman with whom Pankaj Yadav went on a datePolice have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including 3164 3082 352 35 and the Information Technology Act Officials said two to three more suspects are still wanted and further investigation is underwayThe arrested accusedMayur Subhash Didolegtgt Mohsin Zayed Hussain Khan 28gtgt Mayank Gulchand Katuria 20gtgt Mayur Subhash Didole 27gtgt Jatin Arun Kumar 22gtgt Faizal Abdul Salam Ali 27gtgt Deepak Haripal Das 26gtgt Sahil Mahesh Kushwaha 19gtgt Rohit Vinod Kumar Sahu 23Investigators said the main accused is one Nitesh Ambaskar and believe several members of the gang came from Delhi and nearby regionsMessage to the publicldquoWe sought to create awareness about this racket so that no one else becomes a victimrdquo said Yadav Advocate Rishabh Mishra said that one of his friends had also fallen victim to the racket ldquoOn March 10 my friend matched with a woman on Tinder She asked him to meet near Marol later shared her contact details and location and took him to the same club Within 1520 minutes staff and bouncers forced him to pay around Rs 22000rdquo Mishra said He was preparing to file a complaint at the Sakinaka police station when he learned about the police raidmiddayrsquos crusademidday was the first to expose this scam In a sting operation conducted by the newspaper in 2024 several clubs involved in such dating app frauds were uncovered Following the revelations Mumbai Police registered around four FIRs and cracked down on the racket effectively dismantling the network The scamsters had remained largely inactive for several months However in the past few months the menace has resurfaced on a large scale in Mumbai as well as in Thane Navi Mumbai Mira Road and PunePolice SpeakDatta Nalawade DCP Zone XlsquoDuring the raid which was carried out based on credible information it was revealed that customers were lured to Heaven Terrace 72 Cafe through Tinder At the cafe the women were served soft drinks while the customers were served alcohol and inflated bills of Rs 25000 to Rs 30000 were generated After the bill amount increased the woman would leave on some pretext and the cafe staff would forcibly recover the amount from the customer sometimes threatening to inform their kin if payment was refused It was also found that the said cafe was operating without a valid licencersquo