Delhi man duped by crook he met on dating app

NEW DELHI: So you thought crooks could be found only on matrimonial and social media websites? Move over: even dating apps are now vulnerable. A south Delhi businessman learnt this the hard way when he was duped of Rs 9 lakh by a man he met on a dating app for the LGBTQ community.
Police said the victim, who lives in East of Kailash, approached them last Thursday. He said that he met a user on Grindr app in March, who introduced himself as an American living in Texas. He soon shared his number with the victim and asked him to chat on WhatsApp.
After chatting for a few days, the man told him that he would be travelling from US to Japan and stop by Mumbai on his way back to meet him.
A few days later, the man claimed that he has landed in Mumbai but the customs department there had seized his luggage and asked him to pay Rs 75,000 as duty. “He told me that he had paid Rs 40,000 to the customs officials but needed the remainder as he had reached his maximum withdrawal limit. He asked me to pay Rs 35,000 and promised to return it as soon as he got free,” the businessman told police.
The victim later received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be from the Customs department and spun a story that the United States national has been found in possession with Rs 2 lakh in his luggage.
According to the police, the victim was threatened by the so-called customs officials that he would be booked for money laundering and extorted Rs 8.47 lakh from him. When they demanded Rs 5 lakh more, he went to the police.