Bengaluru woman loses Rs 4.5 lakh to her Tinder ‘boyfriend’

The incident was reported at the Whitefield cyber crime police station on May 19.

The woman told the police after a couple of conversations Chopra gradually gained her trust, and eventually she fell in love with him. Chopra expressed a desire to meet in person and said that he would fly to Bengaluru via Dubai, she said in the complaint. A few days later, the woman received a call from an unidentified number on May 17, claiming to be an official from the Airports Authority of India.

“The person at the other end, who later turned out to be a fraud, informed me that Chopra had arrived at Delhi airport carrying unaccounted cash. He insisted that an endorsement and payment of Rs 68,500 were required for Chopra to travel to Bengaluru.” the woman said in her complaint.

Elaborating on the incident, the woman revealed that the fake official then demanded Rs 1.8 lakh as fees and an additional Rs 2.06 lakh as processing charges. Trusting Chopra and believing that he had made the journey just to meet her, the victim transferred the amount to the given bank details, the police said. Subsequently, she was asked to pay for Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“As I was convinced that Chopra had travelled all the way from London to see me, I was deeply distressed and anxious about the difficulties he was facing. This blinded me from harbouring any doubt about the authenticity of the person requesting money. I simply wanted to ensure Chopra’s smooth exit from the airport so that I could meet him as soon as possible,” the woman told the police.

However, the woman grew suspicious when the fraudulent officer demanded an additional Rs 6 lakh for GST. “As she inquired further, the call abruptly ended, and Chopra ceased all communication. The woman soon discovered that Chopra’s profile on Tinder had been deleted, and her attempts to reach out to Tinder customer support proved futile,” said an officer.