Thiruvananthapuram: A four-member criminal gang in Kerala has been arrested for allegedly targeting and extorting hundreds of LGBTQ+ individuals through the popular dating app Grindr. The group posed as potential romantic partners to lure victims before robbing them of valuables and money, police said.

The scam came to light after a recent formal complaint was lodged at Venjaramoodu Police Station, leading to a detailed investigation that uncovered the gang’s systematic pattern of exploitation and deception.

How did the gang operate?

According to police, the group used Grindr, a location-based dating app primarily used by gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender individuals, to gain the trust of users before setting up in-person meetings.

"All four accused were local youth aged between 18 and 24 years. The mastermind was Sudheer, a native of Chithara here," a senior police officer said on Wednesday. The other accused were identified as Mohammed Salman (19), Ashiq (19), and Sajith (18).

What happened to the complainant?

The case was registered after a victim approached police, alleging that he was robbed of a gold chain and ring – together worth around 2.5 sovereigns – after being lured to a meeting point near Palode, on the Venjaramoodu-Attingal Road, on 7 August.

Police explained that the gang operated in teams: one or two members would meet the victim in a parked car under the pretext of a date. The remaining members would later enter the vehicle posing as strangers, drive off at high speed, threaten and assault the victim, and then steal valuables before abandoning the person in an isolated area.

“As the accused deleted the entire data in the complainant's phone through a factory reset, there was no clue to reach them. We later retrieved the entire chat through the app with the help of the cyber forensic wing,” the officer detailed.

Police suspect the gang may have extorted lakhs of rupees from hundreds of LGBTQ+ individuals, though most victims have so far declined to file official complaints, reportedly due to concerns about social stigma.

“We examined the mobile phone chats and Google Pay transactions of the first accused and identified several such victims. They admitted that they had lost money, but none of them were ready to lodge a complaint because of their social status,” the officer added.

Initially, even the complainant believed he had fallen victim to a highway robbery, unaware that he had been specifically targeted based on his Grindr profile. This revelation came during the course of the police investigation.

With PTI inputs