UK: Network Accused of Using Grindr to Trap Around 50 Victims in Potential Hate Crime Probe

London's Metropolitan Police is investigating a network suspected of using Grindr to lure and burgle around fifty victims, in a case being treated as a possible hate crime.

Fifty victims. That's the number of offenses London's Metropolitan Police has now linked to a single pattern, playing out over several months between October 2024 and March 2025: men contacted on Grindr, drawn into carefully prepared fake meetups, then burgled or defrauded.

The scale of the series led investigators to treat these cases as potential hate crimes, deliberately targeting gay men through the very app they trusted to look for a genuine connection.

A 22-year-old man from Potters Bar was arrested in early April, suspected of burglary and fraud, and remanded into custody. Two other men, aged 27 and 28, from Harrow, were also arrested and later released on bail.

Superintendent Owen Renowden confirmed police were treating the cases as potential hate crimes, and appealed to any victims who haven't yet come forward to do so.