Warning about surge in rapes linked to online dating

The number of allegations of stranger rapes linked to online dating has soared sixfold in five years, Britain’s top crime-fighting body has warned.

National Crime Agency (NCA) figures show that 184 people reported being raped by someone they had met on a dating app or website in 2014 — up from 33 in 2009.

A new NCA report, Emerging New Threat In Online Dating, highlights the growing problem and the force is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the perils of online dating. It comes after the revelation that alleged crimes potentially involving the use of hook-up apps Tinder and Grindr increased sevenfold in two years between 2013 and 2015.

Sean Sutton, head of the agency’s Serious Crimes Analysis Section, said we could be seeing the emergence of a “new breed” of rapist as these alleged sex offenders are less likely to have a criminal record

Rape is significantly under-reported, and those attacked by people they meet on dating websites may be less likely to come forward, meaning the actual number could be 10 times higher than the 184 figure, he warned.

Mr Sutton said online daters often swap sexualised messages and develop a “pseudo-closeness” that can skew expectations.

“It can happen very, very quickly, and you could be talking to a 14-year-old boy or a 60-year-old woman,” he warned.

“You can’t see a stranger rapist coming; they are going to be charming, potentially they are going to be persuasive,” he said. “If you think you can see one from a distance, or even up-front, you can’t — that’s the issue.”