Doctor loses 70 lakhs to online dating

HYDERABAD: A 60-year-old doctor from Secunderabad's Padma Rao Nagar, who stayed in Gujarat, lost Rs.70 lakhs to an online dating app.

According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber Crime, K V M Prasad, the old man installed a dating app in 2020. When he called the number provided in the app, he was informed that he had to pay Rs 40 lakhs as registration fee, which he fell prey to. His wife and children reported this to the Cyber Crime cell. However, the man didn't stop using the app.

Later, he was contacted by a girl, who stole Rs 70 lakhs over a period of one year. The app's representatives told the man that he would get the money back, but he would have to go through some tax deductions and documentation.

He said that he searched for gigolo services on the internet and found the contact numbers of Abhishek, Akshat Sharma, Bhudev Singh, Ragini, Silvia and Gigolo. He contacted their numbers and they told him to transfer some amount into their accounts for the services. He said he paid a big amount to them but later on came to know that it was a phishing fraud executed by professional crooks.

The family, upon realising that they were not going to get help from the app, lodged a complaint against the app on Wednesday.