Lucknow: Robbery gangs using social media and dating apps to target victims continue to operate in the city, with two fresh FIRs registered at Indira Nagar police station.According to police sources, two of the latest complainants were initially turned away after reporting the incidents. Separate cases have now been registered, while two similar incidents of robbery in Kukrail forest have also surfaced. In one case, a private college student from Kalyanpur Gudamba said he befriended a man named Adarsh Singh on social media. On July 12, 2025, he was called to Kukrail, where he was allegedly abducted by five men, held hostage overnight, assaulted, and forced to transfer money. The accused also recorded a video to blackmail him and copied his phone data. In another case, a man from Indiranagar alleged that he met a man named Shivam Upadhyay on Instagram, who lured him near CIMAP on Nov 30, 2025. There, he was threatened with false drug charges, assaulted, and robbed of cash and a gold chain, and forced to reveal his UPI PIN to transfer money. Earlier, same-sex app-based robbery rackets were busted by police in Aliganj and Hazratganj, leading to multiple arrests.
