"Gay Brazilians targeted in deadly stickups, lured by dating apps", 26 August 2024

...It was June 12, Lover's Day in Brazil. Leo Nunes, 24, had spent a few days talking to someone he met on Hornet, a popular gay dating app, before arranging their first encounter in Sao Paulo's middle-class Sacoma neighborhood. A security camera captured the moment that two men on a motorcycle showed up in the alley where he was waiting, grabbed his phone and shot him dead...

Nunes was one of at least five gay men killed since March 2024 after planning encounters through dating apps in Brazil, according to news reports. Dozens more victims have described on social media suffering armed robberies after being lured by fake profiles on gay dating apps. Police have also warned of "love cons" involving straight men lured into kidnappings, without providing figures...

...[T]he crimes repeated a pattern in which criminals target gay men through dating apps and groom them for days with fake profiles across different social media platforms. Police declined to comment on whether they had identified a broader pattern of murders and robberies linked to gay dating apps...

Gabriel said he and others had also flagged their incidents involving the same false profile to Hornet. He said the fake profile stayed online for weeks after he made his report, which Reuters could not independently verify...

Gerry Monaghan, head of operations at Hornet, said that "all reports are looked at and reviewed by Hornet."After the killing of Nunes in June, he said the company had added staff to a team that works around the clock responding to user reports and changed its global reporting system to prioritize more serious issues, without elaborating. A spokesman for Grindr, another gay dating app, said the company is "aware that in Brazil, digital platforms such as ours are occasionally abused to target LGBTQ+ people."He added that the app includes security advice and features, and the company collaborates closely with law enforcement...