According to the Brazilian police, in 2022, 90 percent of kidnappings that took place in São Paulo, one of Brazil’s main cities, were carried out by luring people with fake profiles on dating apps like Tinder. This is just one of the various ways in which for some years now in Brazil these apps have been used to identify easy victims: in addition to kidnappings, robberies and scams against people seduced online have also greatly increased, to the point that Police are openly sharing advice on how to guard against “Tinder crimes”.
In most cases, the victims are men between 30 and 65 who are approached by profiles that pretend to be very beautiful and much younger women. Men duped in this way are held hostage and then released only after they have paid large sums of money to the kidnappers. Many of the victims are heterosexual men who often have never had to fear for their safety online, and who are therefore less used to suspecting that people they meet on dating apps might have bad intentions.
One of the police’s top tips is to strictly verify the identity of the person you intend to date before sending them gifts or setting up an appointment somewhere you don’t know well, and be wary of anyone who asks out almost immediately after they start dating. talk on the app.
According to Brazilian journalists Matheus Andrade and Nicole Froio, the phenomenon has increased with the diffusion of an instant payment method called PIX, which is used by 67 percent of Brazilians and allows large amounts of money to be deposited very quickly by scanning a code qr. “For many Brazilians, the popular PIX app is a fast and efficient way to pay. It is precisely this efficiency and ease of use that made it the perfect tool for this type of scam,” expert cybersecurity researcher Fabio Assolini told them.
“Although the Central Bank of Brazil categorically states that every transaction is fully traceable, the authorities still need further supporting evidence, such as CCTV footage, to be able to confirm that a given transaction was the result of coercion. That’s why Tinder scammers are not only adamant about meeting potential victims in quiet, secluded areas, but they also take extra precautions, like using bank accounts that aren’t theirs, to distribute the money quickly and make tracing even more difficult.
According to the Sao Paulo police, last year there were 94 cases of “kidnapping from Tinder” in the city alone, perpetrated by criminals who “observe users who boast of having a lot of money on social networks and arrange a meeting with them in deserted streets”. If the potential victim offers to meet in a public place, such as a park or mall, criminals make excuses that they can’t leave home. In November, for example, a doctor was kidnapped and held hostage for about 14 hours after going on a scheduled Tinder date.
However, the Brazilian authorities believe that the cases could be many more than those reported, because many victims are ashamed of having been fooled so easily and do not tell anyone what has happened to them. Then there are those who use apps like Tinder without the knowledge of their partner or family, and therefore do not report for this reason.
When asked about the phenomenon by the BBC, a spokesperson for Tinder said that the company “takes the safety of its users very seriously” and “regularly gives them safety tips to make sure that everyone can flirt freely on the app and feel safe” . “Over the past few years, we’ve rolled out a number of safety features to help members confirm they’re chatting with the person they see in their profile pictures before meeting them in real life,” he added.
