Man loses over Rs 14 crore as his Tinder match turns out to be a scammer, details here

By Divyanshi SharmaThese days, we are hearing a lot about cyber crimes and how people are being duped of money online. Be it via SMS, social media, or other websites, scammers are thinking of new ways every day to rob people of their hard-earned money. In another bizarre incident, a man was duped of more than Rs 14 crore when his Tinder Match turned out to be a cybercriminal. The man was cajoled into investing in digital money by his Tinder ‘lover’ and ended up losing all his money.

Man loses over Rs 14 crore in Tinder scam

As per a report in Financial Express, the victim of the scam is a 55-year-old Italian man living in Hong Kong. He met somebody on Tinder and began a romantic relationship with the person. The pair would stay connected on WhatsApp. Turns out, his Tinder Match was an impersonator, posing as a female investment broker in Singapore. The incident, as per reports, took place in mid-February.

After the two developed a relationship, the impersonator cajoled the victim to sign in to a bogus trading website in order to invest in digital money.

“The victim was told that investing in digital money could provide high returns,” Financial Express quoted a source telling the South China Morning Post.

The report further reveals that the man, eventually, ended up transferring a total of 14.2 million Hong Kong Dollars, which amounts to over Rs 14 crore in INR, in nine different bank accounts. The amount was dispensed in over 22 transactions that occurred between March 6 to March 23, the police revealed.

The victim realised something was amiss when he didn’t get his money back and approached the police afterwards.

Woman lost over Rs 2 crore cryptocurrency scam

In a similar incident that was reported by CBS news February this year, a woman had lost over USD 250,000 (over INR 2 crore) when she was conned into investing in cryptocurrency by her lover whom she met on dating app Hinge. The woman, who preferred to stay anonymous, revealed that she started talking to a man on Hinge and the two started a relationship soon as the conversation moved to WhatsApp.

Eventually, as the two got to know each other a little better with their conversations, the man offered the woman a ‘rare opportunity’ to invest in his family’s cryptocurrency. At first, she invested USD 500 and got some results. The man then incentivised her to invest more money promising that the more she invests, the bigger would the returns be.

“I would do all the transactions with him over the phone, and he would tell me you have to do exactly as I tell you, exactly at this time, or you are going to lose all your money,” she told the publication.

She ended up investing around USD 250,000 in total out of which USD 70,000 was taken in loans.

Stay safe online

Such incidents teach us that It’s extremely important to be safe and cautious even while looking for love on a dating app. It is best to conduct a thorough verification of the person in case things start getting too serious. Further, avoid investing real money and trusting people before you actually know them well enough.