Posted on 11/25/2025 12:48:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
This is why we have trust issues.
If you’ve spent any time watching Catfish on MTV, you’re probably familiar with the risks of online dating. People posing as someone they’re not is something all singles need to watch out for as they swipe on apps. But apparently there’s a chance you might not be catfished by another person at all—you might be getting scammed by a restaurant.
A trend is emerging where restaurants are posing as eligible singles on dating apps to lure users to dine at their establishment. The scam has been dubbed “food digging,” derived from the term “gold digger.”
The scam has been primarily reported in cities like Delhi, India, but Taylor Paré, also known as @paretay on TikTok, claims that food digging has come stateside. Paré posted a video to TikTok in November sharing her suspicious experience on a dating app.
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“I met this guy on a dating app and he immediately asked me on a date to a specific restaurant,” she shares in the video. “He confirmed day of, I get to the restaurant [and] see that he’s nowhere to be found.”
Paré tried to reach out to her date through the app, only to discover that he unmatched with her without warning. But after getting ready and traveling all the way to the restaurant, she figured she might as well eat something while she was there.
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It was only after she got home and was browsing online when she realized that the same thing happened to another woman at the same restaurant.
“Once you get stood up, they know that probably nine times out of 10 that you’re going to buy something from them,” Paré added.
Online commentator @nosybystanders added her own thoughts in response to Paré's video. She noted that social media users in Delhi regularly experience similar scams, with some restaurants going even further and inflating menu prices for victims. "Y'all be safe out there, because these restaurants are getting dirty," she said in a TikTok.
Users took to the comments section to voice their frustration. "This feels Black Mirror-ish," one wrote. Another added, "So like the restaurant didn't think to host a singles event??"
Others shared their own similar experiences with the scam. "LMAO I was doing this as a bar promoter back in 2013," someone admitted. Another user shared that a coffee shop owner in France operates a similar scam, asking dates to order for him because he's running late and then never showing up.
Many users, however, are skeptical that the food-digging scam will gain traction in the U.S. On a Reddit thread, one user wrote, "There is absolutely no way restaurant owners or employees have the time to do this… this seems like nonsense."
Only time will tell if this scam holds water, but it wouldn't be the first time restaurants employed shady marketing tactics. It's been confirmed that many chain restaurants operate on food delivery apps under different names to trick customers into ordering from their business.
India: Land of a million scams.
Because we don’t have our own scammers. And we don’t even deport the foreign ones like Anna Delvey. Why won’t Trump deport her.
I am sure glad I am done dating!
Took me 50 years but finally found my Unicorn.
H-8, C-2 plus successful like myself.
Dinner /drink whores aren’t going to like the competition.
Visas?
“If you’ve spent any time watching Catfish on MTV, you’re probably familiar with the risks of online dating.” I like eating catfish, I just wish Svetlana would leave me alone.
You could order a meal and when the bill comes, say that Raj is coming soon and promised to pay for it.
All they have to do is hire someone to do it for them for a cut of the profits.
There's NOTHING people won't do for money.
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