The UK’s “Tinder Swindler” conned women out of a whopping £80,000 with a bone-chilling method that completely “ruined” their lives.
Peter Gray, 35, seemed like Mr Perfect, lavishing his Tinder matches with unexpected presents and oozing kindness. But the unsuspecting ladies he wooed sensed something sinister beneath the surface, each feeling in their gut that things just “weren’t quite right.”
This devious love rat managed to fleece four women of around £80,000 without ever directly asking for cash. Instead, he sneakily stole their identities to commit his frauds, The Mirror reported.
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(Image: BBC)
Gray, from West Yorkshire, was caught and handed a 56-month prison sentence in February. One victim, known as Jessica to protect her identity, opened up about her ordeal on BBC Radio 5 Live. She met Gray on Tinder in 2018 after ending a long-term relationship and found him to be “a good listener and everything I needed at the time.”
However, shortly after she cut ties with him, Jessica noticed nearly £500 disappearing from her account, followed by another similar withdrawal the next day. To her horror, she later uncovered loans totalling £9,000 taken out in her name.
“I left my bag on his dining table, he went in my bag and took pictures of my driving licence and both my bank cards,” she said.
Another victim of Gray’s, Elizabeth, said: “He sent me some flowers to my house, I questioned ‘how did you know my address? Because I’d never told you where I lived.’ He said he went and ‘looked at your driving licence and viewed your address because I wanted to do something nice for you,’ and it was a bit like, he’s being nice but he’s gone into my personal things.”
Elizabeth’s mortgage was abruptly cancelled after two months when Gray used details from her driving licence to guarantee a £10,000 loan under her identity.
(Image: Tinder)
Through the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, also known as Clare’s Law – which enables individuals to request a background check on their partner from the police – two of the women ensured Gray was busted. Discussing Gray’s tactics, Dr Elisabeth Carter, associate professor of criminology at Kingston College University, explained on the radio: “This is a nontypical romance fraud.
“Usually, you would get somebody grooming an individual and then slowly grooming them into trusting them and asking them for money. This hasn’t happened. The grooming has happened, just to get into physical proximity of these women to then take their ID.”
Dr Carter, discussing how these fraudsters often evade detection for a while, said: “Honing in on that victim’s interests, it feels very lovely if someone is listening to you, but that’s exactly what these fraudsters do, they take exactly what that individual’s issues are or history and they play on it. They also make you feel isolated so that you don’t want to tell anyone about it.”
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently revised its guidelines on coercive and controlling behaviour to acknowledge the devastating impact of love bombing, a move applauded by charities.
(Image: BBC)
In addition to the financial damage caused by con artists, Dr Carter highlighted the enduring psychological harm, as many of the women revealed the detrimental effect it has had on their trust in others. “In person, they have shared intimate information with each other, it’s a particular kind of deception which is incredibly harmful with long-term consequences for trust.”
Tinder informed the BBC that it “acts to help prevent and warn users of potential scams or fraud by using AI tools to detect words and phrases and proactively intervene”. “We have implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams or fraud, from in-app features to pop-up messages and education,” a spokesperson stated.
“All users can request that their match be photo-verified prior to messaging. We also partner with non-governmental organizations and local authorities to promote awareness of online fraud.”
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