Ahmedabad: Dating apps are increasingly being used by cybercriminals to target unsuspecting victims. In one such case reported on Saturday, a 40-year-old pharma executive was allegedly cheated of ₹56.35 lakh by a woman he met on the dating platform Tinder.

According to the complaint, the man came in contact with the woman in November 2025. After initial conversations on the app, she reportedly persuaded him to move their chats to Telegram, where they continued regular communication.

During their interactions, the woman told the victim that she lived in the Lokhandwala area of Mumbai and was managing her cotton fabric business. She also claimed to be involved in currency trading and shared screenshots showing high daily profits. She allegedly convinced the victim that forex trading offered better returns than the stock market and sent him a link to a trading website, guiding him through the registration process.

The victim was then asked to coordinate with a “customer support” contact on Telegram for account verification and transactions. He initially transferred ₹40,000 via UPI to a bank account provided by the accused.

Soon, his trading account reflected profits, and he was even able to withdraw a small amount. Gaining confidence, he invested larger sums over the next two months through multiple RTGS and UPI transactions into different accounts. The platform displayed inflated returns, eventually showing a balance exceeding $1.5 lakh (over ₹1.2 crore).

However, when he tried to withdraw the full amount, the accused allegedly demanded additional payments under the pretext of “taxes” and “security deposits.” Despite making these payments, the withdrawals were repeatedly delayed.

Suspicion arose when he was asked to pay a higher “security fee.” After discussing the matter with a friend, he realised he had been defrauded. He then contacted the cybercrime helpline and later filed a formal complaint.

Cybercrime police have registered a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act. DeshGujarat