The Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have busted a dating app scam where gullible men are lured to cafés to celebrate the birthday of girls they meet on the app, and end up paying hefty bills under duress.

A similar case was busted by a team of Shakarpur police station in east Delhi.

According to the complainant, who is preparing for the civil services exam, he had met a girl through a dating app on June 23 and went out to celebrate her birthday in a local café at Vikas marg area.

The two ate cakes, snacks and as they celebrated the girl’s birthday, who also consumed fruit beer.

Suddenly, the boy was surprised when the girl just left the cafe in a hurry citing a family emergency, and as soon as she stepped out from the eatery, the café manager presented a bill amounting to approx. one lakh twenty thousand.

When the complainant saw the disputed bill, he tried to enquire, but was threatened, confined, and forced to pay, for which he made an online payment.

Later, on feeling scammed, he reported the matter to the local police, who accordingly registered a case under relevant sections.

Based on the complaint, the police formed a team who first questioned a person named Akshay (32) on whose account the said amount was transferred online.

He disclosed that the café is owned by four others, further revealing that the real identity and details of the girl who posed as Versha, was actually Afsan Parveen alias Aaysha alias Noor (25), who is a resident of Krishna Nagar.

With the help of technical surveillance, the accused Afsan Parveen was apprehended at another café where she was with a boy from Mumbai, whom she had met through a matrimonial site.

During interrogation, she disclosed that one Aryan communicated with the complainant under the false name ‘Versha’, sharing her photo in one-time view mode and inviting him to Laxmi Nagar on June 23 for celebrating her birthday.

The bill amount at the café was divided 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. The police is on hunt for the other accused fraudsters.

The police said, several such schemes operate in major metro cities like Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad to extort money from innocent victims.

This scam involves collusion between café owners, managers, and individuals who trap victims through dating apps.

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

If the victim refuses to pay, they are threatened, beaten, or confined until they comply. Social stigma often prevents victims from reporting such incidents to the police.