Man on phone app – Photo: Laura Dewilde, via Unsplash.
A 33-year-old New York man was robbed last week after he arranged to meet a man through Grindr.
The robbery took place last Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. at the Sheraton’s Four Points Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, according to police. The victim met his attacker through the online dating app, and arranged for a romantic rendezvous. But when he entered his hotel room, his date pulled out a gun.
The assailant then pistol-whipped the victim before forcing him to lay face-down on the bed. The attacker then left, fleeing with $1,000 in cash, a cell phone, and a tablet, reports the New York Post.
The victim was taken to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center and treated for a cut to his head before being released. The investigation remains ongoing.
While dating apps are often fun ways to meet new people, the apps have also been exploited in recent years by criminals who have created fake profiles designed to lure gay men into meeting in person with the intent of robbing or otherwise harming them.
Other cases in Texas, Oklahoma, and Illinois — as well as Birmingham in the United Kingdom — have followed a similar pattern, in which the offenders using dating apps to entrap and rob gay men, under the assumption that many will not file a report with police. One Detroit man even used a dating app to arrange meetings with gay men so he could shoot them.
Two of the women accused of torturing and killing Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man from Oakdale, Minnesota, have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Precious Arzuaga, 40, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to murder, kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, conspiracy, coercion, concealment of a human corpse, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Prosecutors alleged that Arzuaga masterminded Nordquist's torture and murder, enlisting at least six other adults -- some of whom were also members of the LGBTQ community -- to help carry out the crime and forcing two children to participate in his abuse.
Derek Chadwick, co-founder of the gay dating app Goose, has left the company, saying its direction no longer aligns with his original vision.
Launched in June, Goose marketed itself as a rival to Grindr, distinguishing itself from the dating and hookup app for gay and bisexual men by emphasizing genuine relationships and connections, according to Attitude.
Goose's official Google Play description says the app allows gay men to "discover guys through shared places, interests, friends, and moments happening around you."
An employee at a wastewater treatment plant in suburban Buffalo has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he was discriminated against because he is gay.
Timothy Burns, who has worked full time at Grand Island's wastewater treatment plant since 2011, claims the harassment and discriminatory treatment began in 2020, according to Buffalo CBS affiliate WIVB.
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