Police yesterday called for people to come forward if they have been left with a big dinner bill after a man they dated through the ICQ internet chat service fled without paying.
An unemployed 29-year-old man was arrested for allegedly fleeing the Super Star Seafood Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui after having a $7,000 meal of abalone, lobster and shark fin soup on February 27 with a woman he dated through the ICQ internet chat service.
The hugely popular chat programme has been used by sexual predators to date women that they later raped or sexually assaulted.
The arrest was made on March 7 after the man allegedly went to a branch of the same restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui with another woman. Police were told they had also met through ICQ.
Officers are also investigating possible links with another case in which a 17-year-old schoolgirl went on a date to the Causeway Bay branch of the restaurant on March 1. She had to pay a $5,000 bill after her date, whom she also met through ICQ, escaped with her mobile phone.
Officers are looking into telephone and computer records of the suspect in an attempt to locate other victims.
Police said the man invited a 20-year-old waitress to dinner at the restaurant's Nathan Road branch in Tsim Sha Tsui on February 27.
