The Mumbai Police on Saturday arrested Ankur Meena, the alleged mastermind behind a dating app scam that involved luring several men to certain clubs through women using fake profiles.
According to a Mid-Day report, the 26-year-old was arrested after an intensive manhunt led by Cyber In-charge Assistant Police Inspector Vivek Tambe and Police Sub-Inspector Rohan Patil.
The operation, overseen by DCP Anand Bhoite of Zone XI and Senior Police Inspector Anil Thackeray of Bangur Nagar police station, saw the team camping in Delhi for several days to track down Meena. To avoid capture, Meena had been frequently changing locations. He left his home and sought refuge in a hotel in Delhi, from where he was allegedly running the scam, targeting nightclubs in and around the city.
How did police arrest Ankur Meena?
The Bangur Nagar police, in collaboration with Delhi’s Anand Vihar police, conducted an extensive search of hotels in the Shahdara area, including three- and four-star properties, the report added.
“Early on Thursday morning, the team received precise information about Meena’s whereabouts and successfully apprehended him from the IP Royal Hotel in Anand Vihar,” an officer from Bangur Nagar police station told the website.
Meena, who hails from a family in Sushila Garden, Saboli Extension, comes from a respectable background—his father is a school principal and his elder brother a dentist.
It appears that his family was unaware of his alleged criminal activities. While working in various nightclubs in Delhi, Meena got involved with individuals running scams through dating apps and began imitating their methods,the report claimed.
According to the police, Meena has not been fully cooperative, though he has disclosed the names of certain clubs in Mumbai involved in the scam. “We are trying to find out which clubs in Mumbai, Pune, and Thane were involved in the scam and the names of every racketeer,” an officer stated.
The police further revealed that after successfully operating his dating app scam in cities like Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Dehradun, Agra, Lucknow, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Raipur, and Nagpur, Meena expanded his operations to Mumbai, Pune, and Thane. He has been active in the Mumbai region for the past 1.5 to two years, allegedly orchestrating an elaborate scheme targeting men.
How men were lured by women on dating apps
The scam involved male suspects creating fake profiles on dating apps, pretending to be women to engage with their targets. After gaining their trust, they would invite the victim to a pub or bar for a date, where a female accomplice would be waiting. She would then proceed to order multiple rounds of food and drinks.
Once the victim became heavily intoxicated, the woman would disappear, leaving him stuck with a highly inflated bill. The bar staff would then pressurize him into paying the full amount.
"We suspect the accused collaborate with pub staff, offering them a share of the extorted money," said a police officer.
In one incident reported in September, a Goregaon resident in his mid-twenties fell victim to this scheme. After downloading a dating app last month, he began chatting with a woman named Muskaan, who persistently invited him on a date and directed him to a pub in Andheri (West).
Once there, Muskaan placed a large order for food and drinks. The complainant noticed the liquor had an unusual taste. After an hour, when he was heavily intoxicated, the waiter presented him with a bill for ₹40,000. Initially, Muskaan offered to split the bill but disappeared under the guise of taking a phone call.
The complainant realised the bill was inflated, but the pub staff forced him to pay the full amount. He felt embarrassed and only came forward to report the incident after almost a month.
