"Tinder robberies have men in Brazil on high alert", 01 March 2023

...João Eleutério da Silva, a 51-year-old man from São Paulo, has changed his dating habits on Tinder over the past year and a half. He’s afraid of becoming another victim of the recent spate of kidnappings, money transfer scams, and even homicides — all of which start by luring men like him on dating apps...

...Police statistics show that nine out of 10 kidnappings in São Paulo in the past year have occurred after a date was arranged through Tinder and similar apps....[M]en like da Silva — ranging from 30 to 65 years old — are the main targets...

The rise in scams has coincided with the widespread adoption of two forms of technology: dating apps and mobile payment...Criminals use fake dating app profiles to lure unsuspecting targets to a private place with ease, and then take their money using PIX — an instant QR payment method used by 67% of Brazilians. 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...