Bengaluru: Three men lose ₹45L to dating app frauds
In early January 2024, three Bengaluru men lost a total of ₹44.6 lakh to scams on dating apps and social media.
One was blackmailed for ₹5.14 lakh after a Tinder match tricked him into a compromising video call and threatened to leak it.
Another man lost ₹1.47 lakh when a fake escort booking on Telegram turned into threats with doctored images.
The biggest loss came when a third victim was convinced by someone he met on a dating app to invest in a fake stock market scheme, costing him nearly ₹38 lakh.
What police are doing—and how you can stay safe
All three cases have been reported to Whitefield Cyber Police Station, who are now tracking digital trails and bank accounts involved in the frauds.
In response, cyber police are urging everyone to avoid sharing private info online, ignore pressure from strangers (financial or emotional), stick to chatting within the app instead of moving conversations elsewhere, and enable two-factor authentication for extra security on dating platforms and social media.