Tinder would not appear to be a hotbed of violent crime. You do log in to Tinder via Facebook, after all. As far as potential for bodily harm to users, Tinder is probably about as safe as any other internet platform intended for strangers to meet and chat and eventually have sex. So easy, in fact, that there exists a whole television show dedicated to the concept of catfishing.
But it stands to reason that any stranger you meet in the library, at a bar, or in your ceramics class could also be hiding some unsavory proclivities. Tinder did not respond to our requests for information to confirm this number. But if that means total out of the nearly six years the app has been around, I would take my chances. Some serious shit has gone down thanks to Tinder, including rape, murder, stalking, and scams. One thing that makes Tinder seem especially unsafe is the smattering of murders associated with the app.
In late , for example, year-old Sydney Loofe of Lincoln, Nebraska met up with year-old Bailey Boswellβand was never seen again. Loofe posted selfies to Snapchat announcing she was going on a date on Nov. In early December, local authorities found her body, and while Boswell became the main suspect, her year-old boyfriend Aubrey Trail eventually confessed to killing Loofe.
Stimpson and McLaren dated on and off for about seven months after they met on Tinder. When she ended it for good, he started making threatening comments about her on social media.
She informed the authorities and told those close to her she was worried about what he might do to her. Ultimately, he attacked her with a paring knife while she was sitting in her car. She told the Tinder date she was leaving him, and later that day was found strangled or suffocated in her shower with the water running. From a sexual health perspective, too, Tinder is infamously semi-safe.
