Stupid Cupid: How Dating Apps In India Have Become Crime Epicentres

Stupid Cupid: How Dating Apps In India Have Become Crime Epicentres

SUMMARY

India’s online dating apps market has witnessed substantial growth in recent years, however, the success is punctured by the rising crime instances emerging out of these apps

The skewed gender ratio on dating apps and the inability to monetise have led the dating apps to overlook the security, privacy related measures putting users at risk

Indian laws do provide some safeguards but have largely failed to penalise dating apps effectively

“Until con do us part.”If you find these allegations quite startling, then consider the findings from global cybersecurity firm Norton last year, which revealed that 66% (two-thirds) of adults using dating platforms in India fell victim to various forms of financial fraud related to dating app scams.  For starters, Rohit’s date started burning holes in his pocket in just a few hours, making him cough up as much as INR 50K at the pub where they were having their first-ever tryst. Then, the real gambit started. After a few drinks, the Avani started blackmailing her date, accusing him of raping and sexually harassing her and threatening him with lodging a police complaint against him.After Rohit expressed his ordeal, the activist informed him that he had been honey-trapped by a nefarious nexus that was running unchecked. This network duped single men seeking love on dating apps, baiting them into in-person meetings with single women, capturing their intimate moments, and subsequently blackmailing them with accusations of rape and harassment.  Delving into the details of the case, Bhardwaj revealed that the Jaipur resident, Dushyant Sharma, met Priya Seth on Tinder. Sharma impersonated a rich person on the dating platform, which piqued Seth’s interest, as she was already seeking a target for kidnapping and subsequent extortion, in connivance with her boyfriend and one other.“We have also seen instances where the dating apps have not even cooperated with the law enforcement agencies on grave matters, shrugging off responsibility, by saying that the users were aged 18 years and above and agreed to the terms and conditions before signing up,” Bhardwaj said.“Apart from subscription-based premium models and advertising, dating apps have little to no monetisation avenues. As such, sharing exclusive data with social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram and other TPAs (third-party apps) becomes crucial to make money,” a top executive working with a Bengaluru-based dating firm mentioned. Surprisingly, India’s newly promulgated data protection law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP), 2023, has vaguely defined the term sensitive personal data. In contrast, however, the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) has an overarching and wide definition. 

The original phrase, “until death do us part,” has been modified here to reflect love in the digital age, with Indian dating apps now becoming a breeding ground for deceit, manipulation, blackmail, infidelity, extortion and, at times, murder, besides helping people find love.

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