Swipe right, get trapped: How a dating app landed Bengaluru youth in trouble

Bengaluru: One swipe was all it took to ruin this 25-year-old man's peace of mind. As he got ensnared in a ‘romance racket', cybercrooks secretly recorded an intimate video and extorted over Rs 4.5 lakh by threatening to make it public.The victim, Nayan (name changed), a data science online tutor residing in Bellandur, joined the dating app CSL a few weeks ago in the hope of finding a partner. According to his complaint, on Jan 25, he was connected with a woman who introduced herself as Madhavi. After exchanging a few messages and personal details, Nayan shared with her his mobile number.
Soon, Madhavi contacted him on WhatsApp. When Nayan expressed an interest in meeting her, she asked him to wait for location details. She suggested meeting at a pub near Kudlu Gate Metro station the following day.Expecting a pleasant outing, Nayan arrived at the pub and informed her of his arrival. She called him and claimed she was already nearby, but insisted that he make an online payment before they met. Nayan insisted she meet him. He transferred Rs 20,490 shortly after seeing her, but she soon made an excuse and disappeared. Despite waiting over an hour for her to return and searching the surroundings, Nayan could not find her again. He returned home disappointed.Later, Nayan received a message on Instagram from someone with the profile name ‘Aarohi', asking if he was looking for a date. Unaware of the impending danger and desperate to meet someone, he responded. Aarohi soon asked for his mobile number and requested a video call.During the call, a woman appeared nude on the screen, spoke intimately, and gradually lured Nayan into virtual intimacy. Following her instructions, he stripped, unaware that his visuals were being secretly recorded.Moments later, the call was disconnected. When Nayan attempted to reconnect, he received images showing him nude on a video call with his face clearly visible. It was then that cybercrooks began blackmailing him, threatening to circulate the images and videos among his family, friends, and social media contacts unless he coughed up money.Panicking and fearing social embarrassment, Nayan pleaded with them not to share the content. Under pressure, he transferred money in multiple instalments, ultimately losing Rs 4.6 lakh. However, the demands continued. When he ran out of money, the fraudsters began calling him repeatedly and even sent the images to some of his family members, threatening to make them go viral.20k left in accountDistressed, Nayan confided in a friend, who immediately took him to the cops on Jan 27. Even while he was at the police station, he continued to receive calls from the fraudsters. Police asked him to call the cybercrime helpline (1930) and attempted to freeze the bank account used by the fraudsters. However, only Rs 20,000 remained in it."The accused had already transferred the money to multiple accounts and withdrawn it after the victim informed them that he was approaching police," a senior officer said, adding that the amount was routed through mule accounts.Another officer said such cases fall in the infamous sextortion bracket, where fraudsters use AI-generated or pre-recorded nude videos of women to trap victims. "They lure victims into video calls, capture intimate visuals, and sometimes make them download remote access apps or malicious APK files to steal contacts," the officer said.