Thabsie Mabezane, a transgender woman and LGBT+ activist in South Africa had quite the scare when she set out to meet someone via Tinder. She was aware of personal safety measures when she encountered a man on this dating app and preferred to meet him in a public space rather than at his place.
However, things took a dark turn when an unregistered car pulled up as she waited at their agreed meeting point in Johannesburg. A man wielding a gun came out from the car and coerced her into it. As per Mabezane, she was whisked away to an abandoned building where her captors demanded her friends for money. Their redemption only came after several hours once they managed to persuade them without any ransom involved.
Fearing disbelief, Mabezane chose not to report the incident while making sure users were encouraged by Tinder for reporting such crimes bolstered by their dedicated team which cooperates with local law enforcement agencies ensuring justice is served. Identifying fraud signs or suspicious profiles through built-in mechanisms features within its purview as reiterated by an unnamed Tinder spokesperson.
The rise of cases like Mabezane’s has shaken South Africa prompting dialogue surrounding protections afforded towards dating app users against extortionist tactics plus abductions targeting those belonging from LGBT+ communities due mainly on hatred grounds coupled with intolerance according to both police services and activists alike.
Athlenda Mathe who is SAPS’s national spokesperson pointed out perpetrators targeting nescient individuals now turns rampant across various social networks including trend-setting dating apps.
He further elaborated on several gangs aiming at the LGBT+ community that has been successfully detained.
Vision Tactical, as a local security firm has called for Grindr’s banning due to an influx of incidents where gay men are being loot in locations and subsequently assaulted physically with robberies & abductions being rampant.
According to Yaseen Theba who is Vision Tactical’s director, “three or four people” are kidnapped every night by professional syndicates. This figure stems from a conducted study over six months.
In fact, a student aged eighteen years got abducted post meeting up someone through Grindr. Fortunately he got rescued later while having seven suspects responsible arrested clarifies police reports.
Grindr reciprocally remains aware of this alarming situation quoting an official statement made towards Reuters related with individuals disappearing after using their app arranging meetings as such initiates integrated safety features encased inside the application offering options like video calls serving verification means beforehand ensuring some semblance of user’s claimed identity before deciding meeting up personally sending regular daily warnings regarding present crisis situations especially catered towards its active South African usersbase who continue exploring innovative problem-solving approaches across similar ventures locally partnering.
Some activists however have voiced out against outright bans on Grindr as it might alienate LGBT+ communities further. Banning Grindr would indicate straight individuals enjoying privileges denied to homosexual or queer counterparts justly remarks Mabezane (kidnapping survivor), thus highlighting pronounced equality discrepancies existing amongst dating app usage incidence rates.
