Beaten, robbed and dumped: Gay men lured on Grindr in new wave of attacks

A young Nelson Mandela Bay man never imagined that agreeing to a date via a popular app would end in violence, abduction and extortion.

But that’s what happened to the 23-year-old e-hailing driver and student in August.

Still shaken, the Walmer resident has asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

“The fear is still with me every single day,” he said. “I don’t feel safe anymore … I’m scared.”

And he's not alone.

Several young men across South Africa have fallen prey to a rising trend of targeted attacks through dating app Grindr, prompting renewed safety concerns and calls for action.

Recently, LGBTQIA+ campus society Wits Activate called for a boycott of Grindr after another student from the university was recently attacked in Johannesburg.

But this is far from a new trend.

Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the latest victim was ambushed and forced into his vehicle before being driven to Schauderville, where he was assaulted and extorted.

Janse van Rensburg said the crime pattern first surfaced in 2023.

That year, three suspects were arrested after a string of young men were robbed and extorted in the same way through Grindr.

Grindr is a social networking and dating app mainly used by gay, bisexual and queer men to meet new people.

Questions were sent to Grindr but it had not responded by the time of publication.

The questions sent via email included what was being done to address the scourge and whether they were even aware of the incidents happening in SA.

Janse van Rensburg said the cases collapsed when victims withdrew from court proceedings, and that the suspects were subsequently released.

But new cases reported in the metro in the past two months have thrust the issue back into the spotlight, with detectives once again probing how criminals are using the app to hunt, attack and rob young men.

"Mount Road detectives are currently investigating two other cases reported during July and September," she told IOL on Thursday.

She said victims start chatting with someone on the dating app, and later agree to meet in person.

"A meeting will be arranged for a meet up and on arrival the victims will be attacked and forced into the vehicle and drove to an unknown destination in Schauderville," Janse van Rensburg said.

"The suspects will then continue to commit various crimes and extort the victim."

She said the new incidents draw a strong parallel with those reported in 2023.

"In 2023, [police] arrested three suspects involved after criminal cases were opened of robbery and extortion.

"These suspects were interacting with the victims through a social media platform called Grindr.

"They will plan to meet and then they will be targeted.

"However, as the court proceedings continued the victims involved did not want to proceed with the criminal case that resulted in the cases being withdrawn and the suspects was released from custody."

Speaking to IOL, the Walmer victim said he was still coming to terms with what had happened.

“I’ve used Grindr on and off since I was in school," he said.

"For me, it was just a way to connect, to meet people I couldn’t meet anywhere else."

He said he never really had any red flags before.

"Most of the chats were normal, some people I met and we went on dates, others just faded away.

"It always felt safe enough."

He said he went on a date with a man he met on the app about a week before the incident, "and it went fine".

"Nothing strange happened," he said.

"Then on [August 22], I saw this man on Grindr who I thought was attractive.

"His profile didn’t have a name, just a bunch of emojis."

He said that was not unusual on the app.

"A lot of people don’t use their real names or photos, so I didn’t think too much of it.

"We started chatting, and he seemed normal.

"He wasn’t weird. He just asked about me, where I live, what I do. I didn’t feel unsafe at all.

"When he suggested we meet up, I agreed, because up to that point, nothing felt off. I honestly had no idea what was coming."

They then agreed to meet the following day, a Saturday.

"I had to meet him in the parking lot of a nightclub in Salsoneville [in Gqeberha],” he said, adding they had agreed on 8pm.

“On a message he said his name was 'Lloyiso' and he asked me what car I was driving.

“I did a few e-hailing trips before, and when it got closer to the time, I headed straight to the club."

He said when he got there, he told him he was outside.

"Then someone knocked on my window," he said.

"He was well-dressed. I opened my window and he asked if I was there for 'Lloyiso'. I said yes.

“He told me 'Lloyiso' was still getting ready and that we should go to his house.

"I didn’t think anything of it because that was the name of the guy I was supposed to meet.

"He got into my car and showed me the way. He said it was in the direction of Schauderville, which is not far."

The man said he even remember telling him he was nervous to meet "Lloyiso".

But then, about three minutes later, he was allegedly told to stop.

“Two other men came out of nowhere.

"They grabbed me, pushed me down, and started hitting me.

“They told me to hand over my phone and my wallet.

"One of them pulled out a gun. Then they forced me into the back seat and drove off with me in my own car."

He said they kept demanding his PIN.

"I gave it to them because I was scared.

"They drove me around and went to withdraw money from my account.

“Eventually, they dropped me in a field, left the car there, and ran away."

Scared, he drove to the flat he was renting with a friend.

"My friend told me to open a [police] case, but I didn’t because I was too scared.

"I’m not from this country and I was worried about what could happen.

“I just blocked my phone by doing a SIM swap and shutting it down on Find My Android. That was all I could do.”

Grindr is no stranger to crime in SA.

Dotted across various parts of the country are similar reports of men being lured through the app, only to be ambushed, assaulted, and robbed after agreeing to meet.

Wits Activate said their student was this week lured by a man on Grindr who used the names Nkosinathi or Lihle, according to Mamba Online.

"After arranging to meet near Home Affairs in the Johannesburg city centre, the student was taken to a remote field in Jeppestown where he was strangled, tied up, and robbed," it said.

“It is important to note that during this ordeal, the attacker kept asking for background information.

"The student believes this was an attempt to identify other people the attacker could target for ransom in exchange for his release."

Seven queer organisations have called for "urgent action" in the long-delayed Grindr Gang 7 case.

The case involves seven men accused of abducting, assaulting and extorting a young queer person in Johannesburg in 2023

The suspects, believed to be part of a syndicate targeting LGBTQIA+ people through Grindr, were arrested in September that same year.

The case is ongoing.

About a year ago, local private security company, Vision Tactical called on Grindr to be banned in SA following an "increase in attacks on users".

Vision Tactical's Yaseen Theba said the ban was imperative to safeguard "vulnerable individuals" against violence and exploitation.

In Cape Town, a 50-year-old man was abducted on June 14 2024 after Hawks detectives investigated irregular banking activities and managed to track the suspects to a house in the neighbourhood following a tip-off.

Three days earlier on June 11, a 45-year-old man who reportedly lost his spouse and turned to the dating app was supposed to meet a person at a coffee shop in Sea Point, also in Cape Town, but he was given a new venue in Shortmarket Street, Bo-Kaap, when he was ambushed by two suspects.

Grindr previously told Washington Blade it “takes the privacy and safety of our users extremely seriously".

“Grindr publishes a Holistic Security Guide and Safety Tips available from within the Grindr App and on Grindr’s public website, and we encourage users to be careful when interacting with people they do not know,” the app's spokesperson told the publication.

“We encourage our users to report improper or illegal behavior either within the app or directly via email to help@grindr.com, and to report criminal allegations to local authorities and, in these cases, we work with law enforcement as appropriate.”

Get your news on the go. Download the latest IOL App for Android and IOS now.

IOL News