Robber Targets Victims on Gay Dating App Grindr

A gay man who used Grindr to find a date had sex with his new friend–then found himself robbed.

The anonymous gay victim told ABC 10 San Diego that he met his soon-to-be burglar-lover on Grindr just before Thanksgiving, adding, “We started messaging. He seemed kind of cute. He needed to be picked up, which was a little annoying, but I said, ‘OK, whatever.’…He seemed well dressed. He didn’t seem threatening or anything like that.”

After they had sex at the victim’s home, the burglar-lover allegedly exited. The victim didn’t realize he had been robbed until he went shopping. He said, “I went to Costco and got to the front of the line and I’m like, ‘Umm, my debit card’s missing.’” Hurrying to the bank, he discovered his debit card had already been used.

Once his alert went public, other victims came out of the closet. The victim said he had found four other victims of the same scam.

San Diego police acknowledged that a man with a similar name to the burglar-lover was arrested for burglary in April and convicted.

Buzzfeed has graciously listed the do’s and don’ts of using Grindr, including, “Avoid sketchy situations.”