After dating app scams, online escort services have become as a new way of duping men in Mumbai. These digital flesh trade dens, masquerading as legitimate websites, promise foreign escorts and vanish after receiving payments. One such website, posing as a ‘Web Blog’, lures victims by advertising women from countries like Africa, Australia, Japan, and Russia.

A prominent example is Massage Republic, a site claiming to provide commentaries on politics and human trafficking. However, it redirects visitors to a page offering escort services in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, and even international locations like Dubai, Bangkok, and Nairobi.

One of the people who was recently cheated after booking an online escort service from the website conveyed his ordeal to The Free Press Journal. He booked a Nigerian escort for Rs8,000 through the site. Directed to a hotel in Marol Naka, Andheri (E), he paid Rs2,000 upfront to the hotel manager. Inside the room, he was told to pay the remaining amount before the woman arrived. However, the woman who eventually showed up was not the one he had booked.

“When I confronted the woman, she demanded extra money to arrange for the same woman I had asked for. Sensing something was amiss, he refused, asking for a refund. The woman excused herself, claiming the money had to be recovered from the initial recipient, who had already disappeared. The hotel manager denied any involvement,” the man said on condition of anonymity.

The man claimed to have contacted the police but alleged that the police did not entertain his verbal complaint. However, he said that he did not want to be an official complainant fearing public humiliation and hardships in personal life. The Free Press Journal got connected with another man, a local from Mumbai, who had also booked services from a Nigerian national and was cheated in the same way. Notably, both the incidents happened in the same hotel located in Marol Naka of Andheri (E).

However, when one of the victims reached out to the Human Rights Commission, an NGO working on cases of human rights violations, the NGO’s Maharashtra vice president Roshan Pathak reached out to multiple women offering escort services through the website. He found out that all the Nigerian women denied to meet at any other place and pressed on meeting at the same hotel in Marol Naka where both the men were scammed.

“Normally, nobody would understand that there is an escort service website behind this blog. The women would reply on WhatsApp only after we provided them with a code received from the website. Although all the women demanded different prices ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs12,000, they would ultimately agree to Rs8,000 after negotiations. Similarly, Russian and Japanese women would call at their places in Bandra and Khar. This seems to be a new easy way of scamming men since they are vulnerable and do not speak out about it fearing shame,” said Pathak.

Modus Operandi…

Scammers create websites posing as blogs but secretly offering escort services

They advertise escorts of various nationalities (Nigerian, Russian, Japanese)

Victims are directed to specific hotels, like one in Marol Naka, Andheri (E)

Victims pay an upfront fee to hotel staff or directly to the scammers

A different woman shows up, demanding additional money to bring the promised escort

Excuses are made, and the initial contact disappears with the money

Victims hesitate to report the scam due to fear of social embarrassment

Interaction occurs via WhatsApp, accessible only through codes from the website