So, when his Tinder match, a woman decades younger than him, showed intense interest but refused to meet in public, he became suspicious. Rest of World spoke to three current users of dating apps, all of whom confirmed that their behavior on these apps had changed drastically in recent months.
The rise in scams has coincided with the widespread adoption of two forms of technology: dating apps and mobile payment. A combination of recent factors has made men particularly vulnerable to this form of scam in Brazil. Criminals have found they can use PIX to extract large quantities of cash from the victims they scam using apps like Tinder. Rest of World reached out to Tinder and Grindr for comment on what they were doing to safeguard their users from these scams, but did not receive an answer by the time of publication.
For many Brazilians, the popular PIX app is a fast and efficient mode of payment. It is this very efficiency and ease of use that have made it the perfect tool for these sorts of scams. Though the Central Bank of Brazil categorically states each transaction is completely traceable, authorities still need additional corroborating evidence — say, CCTV footage — to be able to confirm that any given transaction was the result of coercion.
The risk of being on those apps is enormous. The target demographic of criminals generally comprises men across various age groups and sexual preferences, with threats and fake seduction tactics employed in equal measure. It happened after he shared his phone number with a match on Grindr.
When a scam takes the form of seduction, the purpose is often to lure a potential victim into a private and secluded place, said Pereira, the anti-kidnapping officer. He warned that while many men had clearly adopted greater precautions while dating, there were still gaps in basic care that left them vulnerable. For Franco Ribeiro, a Tinder user in Juiz de Fora, a smaller city in southeastern Brazil, disappointment is the main feeling the Tinder scam saga has left him with.
