Valentine’s Day dangers: Dating app killers lure love seekers in unsuspecting ways
From a poisonous date to finding love with a serial killer, these six chilling cases show how unsuspecting dating app users on the quest for romance led them into the clutches of danger.
Dating apps – from Tinder to Grindr – are the modern way for people to connect with potential partners from the comfort of their own space.
The FBI is issuing a warning to singles about the potential for criminals to use the apps to scam users looking for love. Con artists can easily conceal their identity on dating apps, gaining trust from their victims and eventually draining their bank accounts.
"The criminals who carry out romance scams are experts at what they do and will seem genuine, caring, and believable," the FBI said.
Authorities are urging those on dating apps to take steps to protect themselves, while highlighting that many of the criminals originate from outside the country, making them hard to trace. The FBI suggests app users research their match's profile photos to see if the images have been used elsewhere, be wary of matches immediately asking to chat outside the app and exercise caution if someone is unwilling to meet in person.
Brace yourself for stories that blur the line between love and terror. Here is Fox News Digital's list of some recent cases where love went wrong.
HOW TO NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH AI-POWERED ROMANCE SCAMMERS
A New Zealand man is spending the rest of his life behind bars for the gruesome murder of a British backpacker after the pair matched on Tinder in 2018.
Jesse Shane Kempson was convicted of killing Grace Millane following a night of drinking in Auckland – just one day before she would have turned 22.
During the trial, prosecutors revealed that Kempson had strangled Millane during consensual sex in a hotel room and taken pictures of her naked body before stuffing her remains into a suitcase. Following the authorities’ discovery of Millane’s body in the nearby mountainous Waitakere Ranges, an autopsy revealed that injuries were "consistent with restraint."
One year after Millane’s death, Kempson was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Tinder did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Curtis Engeland, 74, from Mercer Island, Washington, was caught up in an elaborate catfish scheme on the LGBTQ+ dating app Scruff.
He was reported missing on Feb. 23, 2024, and his body was found on March 7, 2024. Authorities said that Engeland had "suffered blunt force trauma to his face" and had a stab wound in his neck.
Investigators soon learned that Engeland had allegedly been the target of online criminals who had met him on a dating website. Before his death, Engeland was allegedly robbed of thousands of dollars, kidnapped and poisoned with fentanyl.
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Philip J. Brewer, 32, and Christina Hardy, 47, are facing murder, kidnapping and identity theft charges.
Scruff did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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The trans "baby-faced" killer has been sentenced for two brutal murders of a New York City salesman and an Oklahoma landlord.
Alex Ray Scott used a dating app to meet antiques dealer Kenneth Savinksi in 2020, the New York Post reported. Scott, who began transitioning from male to female while in jail, stabbed Savinksi to death in Savinski’s Upper East Side apartment using a decorative plate and kitchen knife.
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Scott also admitted to the 2019 murder and dismemberment of Robin Skocdopole in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, before leading investigators to the location of Skocdopole’s severed head.
Last year, a Manhattan judge handed down Scott’s sentence of 22 years to life in prison for the murder of Savinski, just months after Scott was sentenced to 45 years behind bars for the death of Skocdopole.
Read the whole story here.
A Pennsylvania man is behind bars after he allegedly lured 14-year-old Pauly Likens into the woods and dismembered the transgender teenager after meeting her on Grindr, an LGBTQ+ dating app.
According to court documents filed with the Mercer Police Department, Likens was at a friend's house before meeting up with 29-year-old Deshawn Watkins.
STOP THESE V-DAY SCAMS BEFORE THEY BREAK YOUR HEART AND YOUR BANK ACCOUNT
Police linked Watkins to Pauly’s death by using video surveillance and cellphone records. The 14-year-old's cause of death was revealed to be sharp force trauma to the head, according to the criminal complaint, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Watkins was charged in the death of Likens.
Grindr did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Read the whole story here.
A Virginia man dubbed the "shopping cart killer" has been found guilty of using social media dating apps to kill two women in 2021.
Anthony Robinson could spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murders of Beth Redmon and Tonia Smith after a jury convicted him last month. Investigators have also linked Robinson to two additional deaths in Fairfax County and one in Washington, D.C., but he has yet to face trial.
Prosecutors revealed that Robinson, who was staying in the motel while working at a local chicken processing plant, killed Redmon in Room 336 of his Alexandria motel room, using a shopping cart to dispose of her body in a wooded area behind the building the following day. One month later, Robinson did the same to Smith.
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During the trial, jurors were shown video footage of Robinson wheeling Redmon's sheet-wrapped body out of the motel. Robinson then pushed the shopping cart toward a wooded area behind the hotel, where Redmon's body was later found, according to police.
Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced later this year, according to court records.
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A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 160 years in prison for using dating apps to lure three women to their deaths in 2016.
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murders of Joanee Brown, Sarah Butler and Robin West after friends of Butler used social media to help catch the killer.
A fourth woman, Tiffany Taylor, survived an attack and provided identifiable information to law enforcement to help crack the case.
During the 2021 trial, prosecutors painted a picture of how Wheeler-Weaver used dating apps to meet the women for sex before strangling them and dumping their bodies throughout northern New Jersey. The attacks were just weeks apart, giving Wheeler-Weaver the opportunity to plan before striking again, according to prosecutors.
Authorities credited Butler’s college friends for their work to leverage Butler’s social media accounts, make fake profiles and lure Wheeler-Weaver to a proposed meeting spot, where police were waiting.
Read the whole story here.