People seeking love through dating websites should be cautious about their wallets, warned police in central China who busted a 15-member group who allegedly took kickbacks for luring hundreds of daters to spend more than 1.2 million yuan (US$ 182,254) in a restaurant within a month.
The group's account book showed its members, mostly fresh college graduates, allegedly enticed 2,531 people to dine in a high-end Western restaurant in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, from August to December last year, the local Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported today.
They allegedly helped the restaurant at 61 Taiping Road earn 1.2 million yuan in a month and the highest bill was 31,000 yuan (US$4,708), Changsha police said last Friday.
The 11 members of the syndicate registered false female information on several popular Chinese dating websites and chatted with men until they agreed to meet.
The other four, young and good-looking, then allegedly pretended to be their dates and enticed the men to the restaurant where they ordered expensive wines and food.