LGBTQIA+ community alerted to dating site attacks

Cape Town - A siren has been raised by LGBTQIA+ organisations over increased cyber attacks on the community.

Amidst the closure of Pride Month this past weekend, Sharon Cox from the Triangle Project in Cape Town, an organisation that challenges homophobia, said the attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community is not only increasing on dating apps, but also physically in the Western Cape.

“Triangle Project is highly concerned about the increasing attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community which often result in death. Awful psychological and emotional scars are often left on those who make it out alive from the attacks,” she said.

Out LGBT accounted for the Johannesburg statistics, and said police recently arrested four suspects in connection with a series of attacks against LGBTIQ+ individuals using dating apps like Grindr, but they continued to receive reports of new incidents.

“After a social media campaign calling for victims to come forward, Out LGBT has over the past month received 13 reports of attacks by the so-called ‘Grindr Gang’.

“All these incidents happened in areas of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, including Sandton, Randburg, Fourways, Tembisa, Soweto and Lenasia. The incidents took place between June 2022 and February 2023,” the organisation said.

Lerato Phalakatshela, the human rights manager at Out LGBT said three of the 13 cases were reported in the past week. He said that after the arrest of four suspects last month it is clear that violations mostly occur from Grindr, a queer dating app.

“The ‘Grindr Gang’ is in fact more than one group of criminals. Out urges members of the LGBTIQA+ community, particularly gay, bisexual and queer men, to use dating apps with caution as we can confirm that these groups are still out there and actively preying on new victims.

"What we have also noticed is that some of the victims were targeted on other platforms and apps in addition to Grindr, such as Tinder and Ads Africa," he said.

Phalakatshela said of the incidents that were received, a report came of a victim allegedly being harassed for money by police officers, from the station at which he reported his attack.

“This is a clear instance of secondary victimisation of an already traumatised individual. Any victim facing this kind of behaviour from the police should contact the Station Commander immediately to report it.

“They can also escalate the matter to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid): 0800 111 969 / 012 399 0000 / [email protected],” he said.

Michelle Wasserman from ActionSA pledged her support for the LGBTQIA+ community and said they have a right to equality.

“This is the message I, alongside Western Cape ActionSA activists, shared when we attended the Cape Town Pride parade on Saturday -- which was the biggest Pride event the city has ever seen.

“ActionSA supporters joined thousands of people who filled the streets to celebrate diversity and raise awareness of the community’s issues, such as homophobia and hate crimes.

“ActionSA would like to reiterate our vision of building an inclusive and prosperous future for all South Africans.

“This echoes the preamble of our Constitution, which states that ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity’,” she said.