Whether you "Tinder" or not, more singles are turning to popular apps to date or hook up. Pew Research says the use of online dating or mobile apps by young adults has nearly tripled since 2013 and doubled for folks between 55 and 64 years old.
While there may be dating app success stories, there are also some crimes and incidents connected to the apps.
Whether you’re looking for love or using it for sex, dating apps like Tinder and Grindr have gained momentum.
Both companies promise to match you with a catch at the convenience of your fingertips. On Tinder, users swipe right to like or left to pass. If someone likes you back it’s a match.
For some couples, first comes Tinder and then comes marriage and love story of success. For other users, meeting the people behind the pixels has been dangerous.
Two sixteen year old boys and a 23 year old man are behind bars for robbing and kidnapping a Lakeland man. The Polk County Sheriff says a 16 year old created a false profile on the dating app Grindr, the mobile app for gay and bi-sexual men to connect.
"You should not meet up with a complete stranger on an app unless you're going to meet this complete stranger in a very populated area,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Four In Your Corner asked several agencies in Southwest Florida for any reports that mention the popular apps Tinder and Grindr to see if there are any crimes linked to the apps helping users find the most eligible bachelors with a swipe.
Fort Myers Police wasn’t able to release that information, explaining in an e-mail that the department does not have means to search reports with these key words.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it was a “complex request” that could take several hours or days to complete and requires more than $100 deposit to start.
Cape Coral Police didn’t find any reports linked to these apps but the Collier County Sheriff’s Office responded with more than 20 pages detailing a few incidents. All incidents dealt with the app Tinder, there were no findings associated with the app Grindr for the past 6 months.
Among the reports, there was a domestic disturbance stemming from accusations of using the app to cheat. Another incident detailed a steamy encounter turned to a suspicious incident which was later closed by detectives who concluded after their investigation that all evidence pointed to a consensual encounter.
There was also another case of a one night stand turning into a sexual battery still under investigation.
