MUMBAI: The Godfather Club & Lounge, one of the many upscale resto-bars situated in the tony Andheri West area, amid several film production houses, has come under public scrutiny and is now on the police radar following allegations of its involvement in a dating app scam that has reportedly duped several men of substantial sums of money.

Stories of gullible men who have met women on popular dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, who make themselves easily and readily available for dating, leading them to the Godfather Club where they order expensive drinks and run up very heavy bills, have been circulating on the internet. However, the alleged scam came to public light when journalist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj raised the issue on the social media platform X on Friday.

Bhardwaj shared several high-cost bills along with details of how men have been lured into scams after connecting with women on popular dating apps and then asked to go on dates with their matches at the Godfather Club or other nearby venues.

Once the women reach the location, they allegedly order expensive items not listed on the menu, spend some time with their dates, and then abruptly leave, leaving the men responsible for paying unexpectedly hefty bills ranging from Rs 23,000 up to Rs 61,000.

One such victim, who is a young banker from Thane privately said that he was first very surprised when he matched with one profile of a young girl calling herself a North Indian struggling model, and almost immediately, she asked to meet up for a date in Andheri West. I took a metro and met her at a pizza outlet. She hardly spoke as if disinterested, and after some short talks about credit cards, she proposed a fun-filled evening and insisted on a particular resto-bar (He did not name Godfather but also did not deny it) where they were supposedly taken into a VIP section. Without wanting to be named, he said he saw half a dozen other couples inside the outlet and presumed some of them were on dates like him.

Once inside, she ordered drinks, hookah, and some game stuff, all without referring or showing any menu at all. "Everything happened very fast, and the girl did not give any chance to talk; even the music was loud. All of a sudden she got up and moved towards the exit. I presumed she went to the washroom, but she did not return, and then the bill was presented, and I was shocked—about Rs 28,000. We would have barely had, say, four cocktails, each costing Rs 3,500; then some food, and Rs 11,000 was for some games I don't even know about," he said. When he asked about the girl, he was told they did not know, after which he felt trapped and really scared as the environment felt very intimidating. I attempted to talk to the staff asking for justification, but it was in vain, eventually, I decided to pay up and leave.

Bhardwaj, in her post, claimed that while she has exposed many clubs in the past, The Godfather Club seems to have taken the magnitude of the scam to another level by duping at least 10 men daily. She said the women involved in the scam reportedly receive a commission of 15 to 20 per cent of the total bill.

She also claimed that despite many people filing cyber complaints and calling the police on the spot, the scam continues unabated. She wrote, "I've exposed many clubs, but this one seems to be the 'baap' of all. Nothing less than 10 targets daily. Many people have filed cyber complaints, called the cops on the spot, and told these girls they'd be exposed, but it continues."