Kolkata: The city police's cyber cell has uncovered a dating-app fraud scheme operating through a restaurant on Elgin Road, and arrested two individuals on Thursday. The scam came to light when multiple victims reported being forced to pay exorbitant bills under threat of violence.
The accused allegedly ran an operation involving fake profiles on dating apps, targeting people through a network of trained women who lured them to the restaurants. Mariyam Khatoon, one of the primary suspects, was arrested in a morning raid at Baruipur. Later, a raid was conducted at the Elgin Road cafe, and restaurant manager Ranapati Paswas, alias Arun Paswas, was arrested.
"The restaurant managem-ent was directly involved in training women to create fake dating profiles and identify targets," said Rupesh Kumar, joint CP (crime & traffic). The women would abandon the dates at the restaurant, leaving them to face intimidation from staff and being forced to pay bills often amounting to upwards of Rs 10,000.