Swipe, match, murder: How dating apps became hunting grounds for blackmailers and killers | Delhi News

Love was just a swipe away. Or so they thought.Across cities — from Jaipur to Bengaluru, Delhi to Mumbai — dating apps promised connection, companionship and chemistry. But in case after case, investigators describe a similar arc: fake identities, emotional manipulation, engineered isolation — followed by extortion, assault, blackmail or even murder.Increasingly, police say, that first meeting — arranged through a screen — is where the danger begins.What starts as casual flirtation often moves quickly offline: a dinner date, a visit to a private flat, a late-night drive, a hotel room, or a video call that feels intimate and spontaneous. In that moment of trust — built on curated bios, filtered photos and carefully crafted personas — victims lower their guard.Authorities say many crimes follow a calculated pattern. The suspect builds rapport, shifts conversations to private channels, and pushes for an in-person meeting or explicit video interaction. Once the victim is isolated — physically or digitally — the tone changes. Demands surface. Threats follow. In some cases, victims are coerced into transferring money. In others, they are robbed, assaulted or violently attacked.What appeared to be modern romance often turns out to be a carefully staged trap.The Tinder Trap: A Lie That Ended In A SuitcaseWhen 27-year-old trader Dushyant Sharma created a fake persona — a wealthy businessman named “Vivan Kohli” — on Tinder, he believed he was playing a harmless game of impression. It was a lie meant to impress.On the night of May 3, 2018, his body was found stuffed inside a suitcase and dumped at Kukas along the Jaipur-Delhi highway.A resident of Jhotwara and father of a two-year-old boy, Sharma had been chatting for three months with 27-year-old Priya Seth. What he thought was romance was, police said, reconnaissance.According to Jhotwara police, Priya was the kingpin of a rape-and-blackmail racket. She had already been arrested in March 2018 for threatening to implicate a businessman in a false rape case and was out on bail when she met Sharma online.Within 10 hours of the murder coming to light, police arrested Priya. Her live-in partner Dikshant Kamra (20) and friend Lakshya Wallia (21), both from Sriganganagar, were also taken into custody.The investigation into what police initially described as a “blind murder” led them to a flat in Bajaj Nagar Enclave.There, officers say, Sharma was held captive.He had arrived in his father’s car, carrying a bottle of expensive whisky to impress Priya. He was a teetotaller. Dikshant and Lakshya were already hiding inside the flat.The trio, allegedly under the influence of cocaine, tied him with wire after slamming his face against a wall. They demanded he arrange Rs 10 lakh.That was when Sharma confessed: he was not a crorepati. He was a small-time middleman in construction.“Priya checked his documents to be sure and realised that he was not Kohli but indeed a local trader with only a few thousand in his bank account,” Jhotwara SHO Guru Bhupendra Singh said.Priya then called Sharma’s father, Rajeshwar, demanding Rs 10 lakh. The father managed Rs 3 lakh. The money was deposited.But the killers panicked.“Sharma was eliminated despite receiving part of the ransom because the killers feared he had come to know much about them and might expose them,” Singh said.They first tried to strangulate him. Then they stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife on Priya’s bed.Afterwards, police said, Priya withdrew Rs 20,000 from his account at an ATM and bought a suitcase. The trio packed the body into Sharma’s own car, drove to Kukas and dumped it.That same evening, police said, Priya duped another businessman.She later claimed she did not flee Jaipur because her astrologer had warned her she would have to go to jail.

The AI Girlfriend Who Wasn’t RealIn Bengaluru, a 22-year-old cloud engineer signed up dating app to meet someone real.Instead, he met an illusion.He had no idea that the woman on the other side of the screen was not a budding romance, but bait — a carefully orchestrated trap. What began as flirtation quickly turned into a calculated sextortion racket, draining Rs 1.5 lakh from his account and leaving him ensnared in a web of threats and humiliation.On January 5, 2026, Nishanth (name changed), a resident of Ejipura, matched with a profile identifying herself as “Ishani”. After exchanging messages, they moved to WhatsApp.That same day, he received a video call.The woman spoke intimately. She coaxed him to strip.He did not know he was being recorded.Moments after the call ended, the threats began. The fraudsters demanded money, warning that the intimate video would be sent to his friends and contacts and made viral.Panicked and fearing public embarrassment, Nishanth transferred Rs 60,000. The demands continued.By 4.30pm on January 6, he had transferred Rs 93,000 more in multiple transactions to a bank account and two UPI IDs provided by the accused.Even after receiving the money, the pressure did not stop.Police suspect the fraudsters used an AI-generated video of a woman posing intimately to lure him.“Many people believe the person on the video call is genuine and live, which leads them into trouble. We noticed sextortion cases originating from dating apps are increasing, so we urge users to exercise caution while interacting with strangers online,” an officer said.A First Date And A Deadly Decision What began as a private meeting between two men spiralled into fear, blackmail and, ultimately, murder.Faeem, 38, a technician from Sambhal working in Delhi, met Sakendra, a labourer and caretaker of a property, on a dating app. After a sexual encounter, ties soured.According to police, Sakendra allegedly recorded intimate videos and began blackmailing Faeem.On May 8, 2024, a decomposed body with hands and legs tied was found in a house at DLF Place.DCP (rural) Vivek Chandra Yadav said the autopsy revealed death by strangulation.“After identifying Sakendra, we analysed his call data records and found he had made several short phone calls to Faeem before the murder. Faeem was also spotted in the footage obtained from a CCTV camera installed outside the flat,” Yadav said.Arrested from Khajuri Pushta road, Faeem told interrogators he met Sakendra on May 2 through a dating app.“Sakendra allegedly had recorded intimate videos of them together and tried to blackmail Faeem into a relationship. The suspect said he is married and has four kids, and the proposal had made him panic. He tied Sakendra up and strangled him with his clothes,” Yadav said.Faeem was booked under Section 302 of the IPC.

From Zurich Romance To A Roadside Dump In Delhi He promised her a “big surprise.”Days later, her decomposing body — hands and legs chained, partly wrapped in a plastic bag — was found dumped outside a school in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar.The woman was 36-year-old Swiss national Nina Berger. Police said she had travelled from Zurich to Delhi at the invitation of Gurpreet Singh — the man who claimed he loved her, wanted to marry her, and could not accept her refusal.What began as a dating app connection in Switzerland in 2021, investigators said, ended on October 18, 2023, in an isolated stretch of Shahpura Khatta, Vishnu Garden — and finally outside a neighbourhood school, where the crime could no longer be hidden.Singh, 30, was arrested after CCTV footage and technical surveillance confirmed his identity.Investigators said Singh had met Berger in 2021 through a dating app while he was in Zurich visiting relatives. He frequently travelled there, as close family members lived in the Swiss city.During interrogation, Singh told police he wanted a long-term relationship with Berger, but she was not ready. He claimed he had fallen in love with her and had proposed several times, only to be refused each time.“He used to often visit Zurich as his close relatives reside there,” an officer said. “Singh claimed he wanted to marry her and had proposed to her several times, but she refused every time.”Police said that on October 18, Singh told Berger he had a “big surprise” for her.Instead, he allegedly tied her hands and legs with chains and locked them. The two drove around before he strangled her at an isolated location in Shahpura Khatta, Vishnu Garden.He left the car there with her body inside.Investigators said the vehicle had tinted mirrors and blinders, and Singh hoped no one would notice the body. He took an e-rickshaw home.Two days later, he returned to check the car and realised the body had begun decomposing and a foul smell was emanating from it.Police said he then partly wrapped Berger’s body in a plastic bag and dumped it outside the school in Tilak Nagar.When Fear Of Exposure Became A Weapon It began with a ping on a gay dating app.It ended eight days later in a hospital bed.A 52-year-old diamond worker from Varachha responded to a message on the gay dating app on February 21, 2024. What he believed was a private meeting turned into a trap laid by three teenagers — an 18-year-old and two minors aged 17 and 14.Police said the accused lured him near Baroda Prestige market in Varachha. From there, Arshit took him on his bike to Jagdishnagar, leading him to the third floor of a house where the two minors were waiting.Inside the room, investigators said, the trio threatened to expose his sexual orientation if he did not give them money.When the man told them he had no cash, they brutally thrashed him.The accused fled with Rs 450 and the victim’s mobile phone.Injured and shaken, the man called his son, who admitted him to a hospital. Initially, he told his family that he had fallen from a staircase and suffered head injuries.But as his condition deteriorated, he revealed what had really happened inside that room.He succumbed to his injuries on February 28.After his death, Varachha police registered an offence of murder and arrested the three accused.What started as a secret meeting arranged through a dating app, police said, spiralled into threats, violence and a death that might have remained hidden had the victim not spoken before it was too late.

Six-Month Honeytrap Racket On Gay App Ends Fake profiles. Deserted roads. Corporate executives targeted. A five-member gang’s six-month crime trail ends in bullets on NH-24.Swipe. Chat. Trust. Trap.In 2020, police have busted a gang that allegedly honeytrapped at least 10 people — including senior corporate executives — after luring them through a gay dating app. The five accused were arrested following a brief exchange of fire on the service road between Gadhi Chaukhandi and NH-24.The accused were identified as Ajay Sharma, Rahul Saini, Ajay’s brother Rajkumar, Manish and Kapil Sharma. Ajay, alleged to be the gang leader, worked at a spa in Noida’s Sector 18.Police said diamond and gold jewellery worth Rs 30 lakh was recovered from their possession. Also seized were two cars — a Brezza and a Honda City (stolen from Delhi) — 24 luxury watches, two country-made pistols and more than Rs 1 lakh in cash.According to investigators, the gang had been active for the past five to six months. Using fake IDs on the gay dating app, they allegedly lured victims to desolate locations or visited their homes under the pretext of providing home services. Once isolated, the victims were robbed.Police said most of the victims refrained from approaching authorities due to fear of social stigma.DCP (Central Noida) Harish Chander stated that while the accused admitted to looting as many as 10 app users using this modus operandi, police identified two victims who formally lodged complaints at Sector 20 and Phase III police stations.The first reported incident occurred on February 26 in the Sector 20 police station area, where an executive working at a private firm in Sector 10 was allegedly robbed of Rs 45,000.The second crime took place on February 28 under the Phase III police station limits. In that case, a senior IT professional alleged that in the early hours of February 28, while returning home to Greater Noida (West) from work, he was intercepted near Cleo County in Sector 121. Two of the accused stopped their motorcycle and allegedly took him to Sector 70.The IT professional was robbed of his ATM cards and wallet. Police said the accused later withdrew Rs 1.45 lakh from his bank accounts before dumping him near the Golf Course.“The accused have been active in crime using this modus operandi for the past five-six months and have admitted to visiting the homes of the targets where they would loot them,” Chander added.

Conned At First Sight! UPI Trail Exposes Dating App Racket A match. A meeting. A massive bill.What began as a routine dating app connection on April 11 spiralled into an alleged extortion racket that led to the arrest of 21 people — six of them women — in Mumbai.“However, it was later found that the accused, Ajay, had called the victim to the spot after contacting him through the dating app. The victim had been using the app and the accused also had IDs on the app,” a police officer said.Police said the women would scout for targets on dating apps, invite them to restaurants on a “date”, and allegedly connive with restaurant staff to generate inflated bills. The men were then pressured into paying the excessive amount.The scam surfaced when one such target sensed something amiss at a restaurant in Borivli’s Eksar locality and dialled the police helpline ‘100’.According to police, the complainant had matched with a 22-year-old woman identified as Disha on a dating app. After exchanging phone numbers, the two agreed to meet at a restaurant a day later. When the man reached the venue around 6 pm, Disha was already there.The pair ordered liquor, a hookah pot and energy drinks. Soon, a bill of Rs 35,000 was presented to him.When the man refused to pay what he described as an “excessive” amount, a restaurant staffer allegedly began threatening him, said an officer from MHB Colony police station. Sensing trouble, the man called the police to the restaurant.Following the call, the bill was reduced to Rs 30,000, and the woman offered to pay half. The complainant paid Rs 15,000 through UPI.Later that day, however, he realised that the payment had been made to a personal UPI ID — not to the restaurant’s official account.Police tracked the UPI ID and scrutinised the woman’s phone call records. The trail led them back to the accused woman. After questioning her, investigators uncovered what they described as a larger racket.A team led by deputy commissioner Anant Bhoite and senior inspector Ganesh Pawar arrested 21 people in connection with the case.According to police, the women allegedly worked in coordination with restaurant staff who generated inflated bills. The targeted men were threatened into paying, and the woman would later receive a share of the money from the restaurant staffer.What appeared to be a simple dinner date, police said, turned out to be a carefully planned trap.The Model Who Wasn’t: Virtual Number, Fake Profile, Real Threats A second-year Delhi University student lodged a complaint at PS Cyber West after being blackmailed by a man she met on dating app in early January 2024.He introduced himself as a US-based freelance model visiting India. They became friends.She shared private photographs and videos over Snapchat and WhatsApp.When she insisted on meeting, he declined repeatedly.Then he sent her own private video back to her and demanded money, threatening to leak or sell the content.Under pressure, she made a small payment. The demands continued.Police identified the accused as 23-year-old Tushar Bisht of Shakarpur, Delhi.DCP West Vichitra Veer said Bisht had been using a virtual international mobile number for two years to register on platforms like Bumble and Snapchat.He used the image of a Brazilian model as his profile picture and created fake IDs, befriending girls aged 18 to 30.During interrogation, police said, Bisht admitted to communicating with hundreds of girls, recording their private content and extorting money.He said he began for amusement. Later, it became greed.A Pattern EmergingAcross cases, investigators point to the same red flags — fake identities crafted to impress, emotional manipulation designed to disarm, carefully engineered isolation, and finally, extortion. Police across states now caution that dating apps, while widely used for genuine connections, are increasingly being exploited by criminals who hide behind anonymity, virtual numbers and stolen images.Different cities. Different motives.But the pattern is unmistakable.Fake identities. Emotional manipulation. Isolation. Extortion.And when fear of exposure or arrest sets in — violence.In some cases, victims are blackmailed into silence. In others, they are beaten. In the worst, they are killed.Police officers across states now warn that dating apps have become fertile ground for criminals exploiting anonymity, technology and stigma.As one officer investigating sextortion cases said, “Many people believe the person on the video call is genuine and live, which leads them into trouble.”Behind the filters and curated bios, predators wait.The swipe is easy.The consequences, sometimes, are irreversible.