US Government Shutdown Stops Grindr Users from Reporting Identity Theft

A Grindr user who was scammed by a fake sugar daddy has been unable to report the theft of his identity due to the current US government shutdown.

Dalton Tannehill gave his bank details and Social Security number to a man called James who helped him pay off his $2,480 credit card debt.

However, Tannehill grew suspicious when he was made to apply for multiple new credit cards and buy $1,000 worth of Google Play Store gift cards. He blocked James’ phone number and the $2,480 bank transfer was retracted.

He told BuzzFeed News: “I just realized I needed to block him and cut off all communication, and report this as soon as I possibly could, whenever this shutdown ends, or any other way.”

The Federal Trade Commission’s webpage for reporting identity theft has not been operating since President Donald Trump issued a partial shutdown of the government 24 days ago. It is now the longest closure in American history.

Tannehill also took to Facebook to give a bit more context to his story. He wrote: “I can promise you all that the BuzzFeed article made me seem a lot more naive than I actually was in regards to the situation – I have 118 screenshots that reveal more about what went down.

“I can also promise that that’s the first time I was ever gullible enough to fall for that mistake and that that was the only ‘person’ I ever just did that to.”

In the UK, the Metropolitan Police released an informational video to educate singles about how to protect themselves from online dating fraud.

The BBC also produced a documentary programme investigating how scammers are targeting victims on dating platforms.

Read more here.