It all starts with a simple match. A man finds a woman on a dating app and, after days of conversation, decides to see her in person. On the way to the chosen point, the young woman claims that she had a problem and changes the meeting address, usually to her supposed residence. When arriving at the place, a surprise. The victim is surrendered by armed criminals and taken into captivity, where the bank account will be emptied through transfers via Pix.
The love scam is no longer news among São Paulo residents and is in the news almost daily. Since the emergence of this new form of kidnapping, in early 2021, the Anti-Kidnapping Division of São Paulo has arrested more than 420 people and launched almost 190 police investigations.
For Delegate Eduardo Bernardo Pereira, head of the 1st Anti-Kidnapping Police Station, there are three factors that hinder the fight against kidnapping gangs:
• lack of collaboration from relationship app companies
• transfers via Pix
• the ease of opening accounts in digital banks
Tinder, Happn and Inner Circle were identified by investigations as the main applications used by criminals to lure victims of love scams. To the R7Pereira says that, as the companies are foreign, it is very difficult to establish a dialogue.
“The great difficulty is that we don’t have the collaboration of these platforms, and we depend on them. The Civil Rights Framework for the Internet makes it clear that they have to be headquartered in Brazil and are obliged to provide information, such as registration data”, explains the delegate.
Among the companies cited, Inner Circle is the only one that maintains a dialogue with the police, but has never provided “any productive information”, according to the Anti-Kidnapping Division.
One of the weaknesses of relationship apps pointed out by Pereira is the fact that gangs easily create fake profiles with photos of women taken from the internet to deceive victims. The experts consulted by the R7 recommend that these companies improve security mechanisms and develop means to verify the identity of users.
Another difficulty faced by the police is the use of Pix as a fundamental tool in love scams, as it allows instant transfers at exorbitant amounts. For lawyer Daniel Bialski, a member of the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences, Pix should stop being automatic, at least for a period, to curb this type of crime, while the police improve investigation and monitoring methods.
The Public Ministry and the Judiciary, according to the lawyer, also have to offer logistical support to find out how the gangs are articulating, operating the victims’ accounts and, finally, to locate them. “In the old days, in classic lightning kidnappings, in a few minutes the police managed to trace the victim’s phone number with judicial authorization”, recalls Bialski.
100% of victims are men
All the victims of the love scam investigated by the Anti-Kidnapping Division of São Paulo are men, aged between 30 and 65 and tend to have high purchasing power or financial stability, according to police chief Eduardo Bernardo Pereira.
Despite the various warnings, many men continue to fall into this form of kidnapping. In 2021, when the coups began to be carried out, 83 inquiries were opened and 138 people were arrested in the capital and in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. Last year, the number increased to 115 and 303, respectively. This year, there are already 33 prisoners and ten cases under investigation.
On January 24th, for example, a 50-year-old commercial manager was released after being kidnapped and losing R$90,000 in Itaquaquecetuba, in Greater São Paulo. On the day, seven men and two women, involved in the crime, were arrested in flagrante delicto.
Naivety, self-confidence and lack of information are pointed out by public safety specialists as the main elements that lead men to suffer this type of scam combined with the “Pix kidnapping”.
According to Alan Fernandes, a member of the FBSP (Brazilian Public Security Forum), criminals use various tricks to deceive victims. Gangs, for example, usually choose photos of beautiful young women to create fake accounts. In the profile, it is even described that they are in search of great love or that they have recently suffered disappointments in love.
After falling for the love scam, many victims do not share the information with their friends because shame. Some even have a stable relationship or are married, and that’s why they don’t want the family to find out about the use of relationship apps.
“At the police station themselves, they don’t tell the truth. It’s difficult to extract information. They start by telling another story, that they went to find a girl and ended up being approached [antes de chegar ao ponto de encontro], when they went to fill up the car. However, we know that this is not what happens”, says Pereira.
Evolution of the modus operandi
Since the emergence of dating app scams, kidnappers have been improving their modus operandi in order to outwit the authorities. Check out the phases of this modality, according to the chief delegate of the 1st Anti-Kidnapping Police Station:
1st phase: The victim is snatched away by the gang after arranging a meeting via the app and taken into captivity. On site, the bank account is emptied through transfers via Pix. Criminals still practice extortion, calling the hostage’s family and friends.
2nd phase: Kidnappers abandon extortion and adopt a new method to extract more money from the victim. They pretend to be the kidnapped person and send messages to family or friends in which they ask to borrow money, for example, to fix the car.
3ª phase: The criminals stopped contacting family and friends so as not to attract the attention of the police.
The delegate also explains that, in addition to transfers via Pix, gangs create multiple digital bank accounts in the victim’s name and make pre-approved loans. “After releasing the victim, they continue to manipulate these ‘orange’ beads. Sometimes people only find out that an account has been opened when the bank collects on the loan,” she reports.
care
Public safety specialist Alan Fernandes and lawyer Daniel Bialski point out two main tips for not falling for the love scam: verifying that the woman on the app profile really exists, consulting other social networks, and arranging meetings in public places.
Other side
Asked about collaboration with the police, Inner Circle stated that “when we receive an official request for data from the police, we share with them all the crucial information that will support the police investigation”.
“We’ve been able to keep these requests to a minimum thanks to our hybrid screening process which, alongside automated scam detection, has human detection to stop fake profiles and scammers from entering the Inner Circle. increase the barrier of entry for these people into the app and we are the only dating app currently doing this,” the company added.
Meanwhile, Happn claimed that “Local authorities can always contact customer service, directing the request directly to our legal team. In this scenario, the legal service will ask for important information to identify and investigate the situation directly with the police. Any information we share with authorities is fully protected as we share it through a highly secure process to ensure everything remains confidential.”
The platform also shared some safety tips for users, such as giving preference to certified profiles, chatting with your crush on the app as much as possible, arranging to meet in a public place, and contacting Happn support if someone is violating the app’s rules.
Sought, Tinder did not respond to the report’s questions.
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