Over the weekend, dating influencer Taylor — a.k.a @paretay —  headed to TikTok with her tale of solo-dining woe, recounting how she was the victim of a “food digger” in an incident she dubbed “the most humiliating experience ever.”

After matching with a man on a dating app, Taylor said her date “immediately” asked her to meet up at a “specific restaurant.” Despite confirming their date over text that same day, Taylor was horrified to discover her suitor was not only “nowhere to be found” upon arriving at the restaurant, but also unmatched her on the app.

@paretay Replying to @KingCharles #dating #fail #storytime ♬ Clair de lune/Debussy - もつ

“At that point, I was a little confused,” she recalled of their non-existent encounter. “I had put in so much effort, I thought I might as well have a meal while I am in the building.”

Yet upon returning home, a quick trip on Facebook helped her realize that her date's decision to go MIA — and her solo meal — may have all been by design.

“I saw a very similar story from a girl at that same restaurant who also got stood up,” Taylor continued. “And she found out that there are restaurants now posing as people on dating apps just so you go to their business and once you get stood up, they know that probably nine times out of ten, you’re gonna buy something from them.”

Though surprisingly, this is nothing new. As pop culture TikToker @nosybystanders noted in their now-viral clip, this disturbing trend of dating someone just to get them to eat at a local restaurant appeared to originate in New Delhi, India where restaurants had hired women to bring their dates into their businesses. 

@nosybystanders #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen yall everybody scamming and that includes #restaurants people are sharing their stories of how they were invited on #dates then left at resturants alone to eat dinner. Turns out restaurants are using #datingapps to get people to sit and have drinks #datingnightmares #stoodup ♬ original sound - NOSY

“Fraud Alert: Met a girl on @bumble, went to The Race Lounge & Bar in Rajouri Garden,” recalled Archit Gupta in a post from earlier this month.  “She ordered drinks and the bill was Rs 15,886. Realized it was a scam. Discovered many people are scammed.”

He ended his post with a plea for local authorities. “@DelhiPolice please take action,” he wrote.

Though it’s unclear whether or not these eateries will be punished for these arguably unethical business practices, one thing is certain — the only thing worse than being stood up is being stood up by a person is being stood up by a restaurant, and still eating there.