Several women have warned others to conduct background checks on people they meet on dating apps after a conman defrauded them out of thousands of pounds. Peter Gray, 35, used the Tinder app to meet women before applying for loans worth approximately £80,000 using stolen personal information. Gray, who hails from West Yorkshire, was sentenced to 56 months in prison in February and received restraining orders relating to his victims. Authorities have warned people to be suspicious of requests for money from individuals they have not met, and to undertake online reverse image searches to detect cases of photo theft. Tinder stated that it had various protections in place to guard against potential scams and fraud, including using AI tools to detect concerning words or phrases.
BBC Radio 5 Live spoke to several of Gray’s victims, who shared their experiences. One, known only as Jessica, stated that Gray “totally ruined my life”. She met Gray through Tinder in 2018 and described how after a few dates, he went through her bag without her knowledge, taking pictures of her driving license and bank cards. He later used the stolen information to take out loans in her name. Another of Gray’s victims, Hannah, stated that he had initially been “calming and reassuring” but that something felt off after a while. She later discovered he had applied for a £20,000 loan in her name after she ended the initial relationship. A few months later, Gray again took loans out in Hannah’s name when they rekindled the relationship after he spent money on her.
Gray lied about his age, occupation and family background, whilst also adopting multiple identities online. Nevertheless, concerns had been raised with the police regarding Gray’s behaviour on several previous occasions, including one during which he was found to have photoshopped his dead father’s signature onto a passage of scripture to profit from an inheritance. He developed contacts through his relationships who helped him to defraud the women of whom he took advantage. Two of these women had undertaken background checks using the Clare’s Law programme, which allows individuals to ask the police to conduct checks on their partners.
In a statement, Tinder claimed to be using technological precautionary steps to prevent fraud, including using artificial intelligence to monitor communications for potential scam indicators. The app also features popup messages and educational materials to give users advice on how to protect themselves. The spokesperson stated that users can request to have a verified photograph prior to sending messages, and that the service also partners with NGOs and local authorities to promote the awareness of online fraud
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