In fact, we all probably know a couple or two who got their start from online dating.
But behind all the Tinder success stories and perfect matches are a pool of sinister catfishers, predators and serial offenders who use online dating platforms to complete their ‘crimes of passion’.
A shocking report by the Australian Institute of Criminology from March 2023 found that nearly three quarters of Australians who used a mobile dating app or website in the past five years had been subjected to online sexual harassment, aggression or violence with someone they connected with.
One third of respondents also said they had been subjected to sexual harassment and violence in the ‘real world’ by someone they met online.
While Tinder and dating platforms can be the place of ‘rom-com’ style romances, they can also turn into experiences that feel more like a horror movie.
From horrific assaults to social media stalking, take a look at our list of dating app offenders and the crimes they committed through online dating apps and sites.
CONVICTIONS RECORDED
THE FISHERMAN WHO PUT THE ‘POO’ IN ‘DATING POOL’
Trent John Samuels threatened to upload a nude video of a woman he matched with on Tinder.
From threatening revenge porn to sending his victim a photo of himself doing a poo, Trent John Samuels appeared before court in August 2020 in a case of Tinder gone disturbingly wrong.
On August 13, 2020, the then 27-year-old appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to threatening to distribute a prohibited visual recording, sent to him by a woman he matched with Tinder in December 2019.
After transferring the conversation to the photo and video-sharing app Snapchat, the female victim sent intimate photos and videos of herself to Mr Samuels on the social media platform.
Police prosecutor Sen Constable Lee Allan told the court that the woman stopped engaging in conversation with Mr Samuels who began sending her random pictures.
Mr Samuels matched with the female victim on Tinder before switching to the social media app, Snapchat. Picture: Judith Kerr
“On one occasion he sent a photo of himself defecating on the toilet with the caption ‘poo time’.” Sen Constable Allen said.
The woman proceeded to unfriend Mr Samuels across social media platforms before Mr Samuels messaged her via Instagram and threatened to send her nude photos to her family and post them online.
The woman took screenshots of Mr Samuels’ threats to police.
Mr Samuels, who previously worked in the fishing industry, was fined $2500 and ordered to pay the victim $1000 in compensation.
A conviction was recorded.
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BUNDY BUSINESSMAN WITH ‘BROKEN HEART’ DEFAMES EX
Matthew Drane, 46.
The former owner of Waterview Distillery in Bundaberg was embroiled in a three-year court case in 2022 after using fake emails to falsely claim his ex-Tinder match was a “bad mother”.
Matthew Drane appeared before Port Macquarie Local Court on September 13, 2022 on intimidation charges after he sent anonymous emails to the victim’s ex-husband, claiming she was an unfit parent, after she had dumped him a few months before.
The pair met on Tinder in May 2018, the victim breaking up with Mr Drane in August 2018 after she claimed she felt “smothered”.
In the months following the break-up, Drane set up a fake email account, with agreed police facts stating the emails were an attempt to “bad mouth the victim”.
Drane’s Tinder profile.
Drane’s Tinder profile.
In a statutory declaration, Drane said he was “devastated and angry at the time, and, out of spite and a broken heart, wanted (her) to feel the pain I was experiencing and emailed various lies”.
Drane’s solicitor requested a non-conviction, but he was sentenced a 12-month community correction order with a conviction recorded for intimidation.
He updated his Tinder profile during the three-year court battle, his occupation changed to “poverty stricken ex”, his bio stating “newest convict in Port for a century or so”.
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DATING APP PREDATOR WITH A HISTORY OF STEALING FROM VICTIMS
Toogoolawah man Brendan John Lyddieth, 25. Picture: Facebook
With 12 previous offences of fraud, stealing and computer jacking, Brendan John Lyddieth appeared before Brisbane District Court in June 2022 and pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault.
A court heard that the then 25-year-old Toogoolawah man had sexually assaulted the 21-year-old female victim after they had met on the dating app Plenty of Fish in January 2020.
Lyddieth was visiting the victim while she was staying with someone at a Redcliffe hospital, offering to bring her food.
During the visit, the woman sat on his lap where Mr Lyddieth put his hands under her pants and tried to touch her before she called the nurse for help.
The court heard that Lyddieth had previous offences against victims he had met on dating apps who he had stolen from by gaining access to their bank accounts and cards to spend on items like UberEats.
Lyddieth was sentenced to three months imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
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‘SOPHISTICATED’ STALKER THREATENS TO MURDER DATING APP MATCH
A Brisbane student who expertly stalked a man she met on a dating app has been released from jail after inflicting months of horror on him and his family. Janani Ganesathurai pleaded guilty to threatening to murder and relentlessly stalking the man and his mother. Picture: Supplied
A magistrate labelled a 26-year-old businesswoman “despicable” after she stalked a man she met on a dating app and his mother, going so far as threatening to murder them.
Janani Ganesathurai appeared before Ipswich District Court on May 19, 2022 where the court heard that the extent of her stalking on the victim and his mother was “excessive, sophisticated, and unnerving”.
Stalking the man who she met on a dating app from July 2021 to September 2021, Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren SC highlighted that Ms Ganesathurai demonstrated “detailed knowledge of his movements” and that “the accuracy of the information and threats understandably had profound effects”.
Convicted stalker Janani Ganesathurai fronted Ipswich District Court on Thursday, May 19, and was granted parole after spending seven months and 25 days in jail.
Ganesathurai hacked the victim’s social media accounts and used fake phone numbers and emails to pretend to be police and the Ipswich Courthouse.
She pleaded guilty to unlawful stalking with violence, threatening to murder via an online document (DV), unlawful stalking (DV), using a carriage service to menace or harass, making false declarations, and assuming the name of an officer with the intent to mislead.
Ganesathurai spent seven months and 25 days in pre-sentence custody which was declared as time served.
She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment with immediate parole.
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MOTHER SENDS NAKED PHOTOS OF DAUGHTER ON DATING APP
The Ipswich mother used a dating app to share naked pictures of her six-year-old daughter. Picture: Supplied
A 31-year-old Ipswich mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Beenleigh District Court after sending naked pictures of her six-year-old daughter to a man she met on a dating app.
Pleading guilty to two counts of making child exploitation material and one count of distributing child exploitation material, the mother took two pictures of her naked daughter from the front and back and sent them to the man she had been talking to on the dating app.
He had told her that he had once had a dream about having a threesome with her and her daughter.
The woman’s lawyer Jack Kennedy told the court that the photos, which were taken in Beaudesert from December 23, 2017 and December 27, 2017, were a “desperate” attempt to keep that man in her life.
She was sentenced to a 12 month suspended jail term with convictions recorded.
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SEX OFFENDER PUT DATING APP VICTIM IN HEADLOCK
Police and Corrective Service Officers were searching for Frank Sagiba after he escaped supervision in 2013.
Frank Cyril Sagiba, 40, held a woman he had met on a dating app captive and threatened to rape her while he was on a supervision order following previous sexual assaults on women.
Appearing in custody before Ipswich Magistrates Court in March 2020, Sagiba pleaded guilty to two domestic violence offences, including assaults causing bodily harm and deprivation of liberty/unlawfully detain a female person against her will, in addition to five counts of contravening a relevant order under the dangerous prisoners sexual offenders act.
The woman who met Sagiba on the dating app AirG, was staying with him in North Ipswich over Christmas in 2017 when he put her in a headlock, punched her in the jaw twice and whispered in her ear “I’m going to rape you” before punching her three times on the left side of her head.
Mr Sagiba had whispered “I’m going to rape you” in the victim’s ear before assaulting her. Picture: Millard Russel
Legal Aid defence lawyer Tristan Carlos confirmed Mr Sagiba had previously received a seven-year jail term for a prior rape and sexual assault for which he wore a GPS tracker for under a supervision order.
Sagiba had told the female victim that the tracker was for “old break and enters” he had committed.
After spending 79 days in custody prior to sentence, Magistrate Rob Turra sentenced Sagiba to an 18-month jail term.
He was released on parole on August 13, 2020 and is on an extended supervision order until August 10, 2025.
FULL STORY
TINDER DATE TURNS INTO ARMED ROBBERY
Tyla Alain Khelloul leaving the Gympie District Court on January 30, 2023.
Tyla Alain Khelloul, 23, was half of a young couple who used Tinder to lure a man into an armed robbery where he and his partner stole the victim’s car, phone and smart watch.
Appearing before Gympie District Court on January 30, 2023, Khelloul pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery while in company on the night of December 24, 2021, with his co-offender not yet caught.
The court heard that Mr Khelloul’s 18-year-old female partner had set up a date with the 21-year-old victim on Tinder in December 2021.
On the date, the female entered the victim’s car, with Khelloul sitting in the back seat.
Mr Khelloul assisted his partner in robbing her 21-year-old Tinder match of his watch, phone and car. Picture: Supplied
Crown prosecutor Michael Andronicus told the court that the woman threatened the victim with a box cutter, telling him he could let her take the wheel or she would “stab him in the f***ing throat”.
The woman took control of the vehicle with the victim moving to the front passenger seat where she took his phone and gave it to Khelloul before threatening the victim with the box cutter again and demanding he hand her his smart watch.
The victim was eventually kicked out of his car on a dirt road after asking Khelloul to hand back his phone which he refused, a court heard.
Khelloul was arrested on February 4, 2022 and was sentenced to 2.5 years in jail with 185 days in pre-sentence custody declared as time served.
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MAN “BRUTALLY” RAPED GRINDR DATE WHILE WEARING BATMAN MASK
Ian Robert Madden used the LGBTIQ+ dating app Grindr to find his victim. Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Ian Robert Madden appeared before a Brisbane court in October 2020 after he chained up a man he met on the gay dating app Grindr and raped him in a “terrifying” attack.
Madden met his male victim on the dating app Grindr in April 2019 and agreed to meet at Madden’s Brisbane home for oral sex, a court heard.
Madden, who is HIV-positive, then used chains to bind the victim’s wrists and “brutally” raped him while wearing a Batman mask over his face and not using a condom.
District Court Judge Richard Jones did not accept submissions that the rape was not premeditated and said “the anal rape occurred after violence and included the binding of the complainant”.
Mr Madden was found guilty on three charges and sentenced six years and six months imprisonment. Picture: Supplied
“It may well be when he arrived you may not have intended to do what you finally did do but there can be little doubt this rape was not a spontaneous action of the moment.” said Judge Jones.
Madden faced trial on eight charges and was acquitted on five, but found guilty of one count of rape, common assault and deprivation of liberty.
After serving 17 months prior to sentencing, Madden was sentenced to six years and six months imprisonment with 13 months declared as time already served.
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‘COLD HEARTED’ CATFISHER SCAMS MEN OUT OF $250K
A St George woman scammed five men out of $250k. Photo: Derrick Den Hollander / The Observer
A 46-year-old St George woman’s actions were called “cold hearted” and “callous” after she scammed five men out of more than $250,000 to feed her gambling, drug and alcohol addiction.
Appearing before Toowoomba District Court on May 13, 2021, Dorothy Edna Weribone pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining money from others to above $100,000 and uttering forged documents related to forging tax invoices after she used false identities on online dating sites to lure and scam men.
Between May 2015 and March 2020, Weribone would come up with elaborate lies for the men to send her money, including asking for payments for travel expenses to visit them.
The 46-year-old mother of nine told one of her victims that her mother died and she needed money for the funeral. Picture: Supplied
The mother of nine scammed one of the male victims out of $243,000, putting the man in his 70s in $90,000 of debt by telling him her mother died and she needed money for the funeral, needed money for a car and asked him to cover travel expenses to go visit him.
Crown Prosecutor Mel Wilson said that Ms Weribone’s reasonings for offenders had been for “greed not need”, stating her scheme was “calculated and systematic”.
Ms Weribone was sentenced to four years in jail, to be suspended after 10 months, with the owed balance she stole to hang over her head for four years.
She was also placed on 30 months probation.
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NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED
FRIENDZONED MAN TURNS TO SOCIAL MEDIA STALKING
Mackay man Jack Henry Kerslake, 26, pleaded guilty to stalking a woman he met on a dating app after she rejected his advances.
A Mackay man who sent hundreds of messages after being friendzoned by a woman he met on a dating app, appeared before Mackay Magistrates Court in January 2021 to plead guilty to stalking.
Jack Henry Kerslake, 26, was told by Magistrate Damien Dwyer that his conduct was “something out of a teen movie” after the man sent a woman hundreds of unwanted messages across various social media platforms after he was rejected.
Mr Kerslake met the victim in late 2018 on Plenty of Fish and proceeded to friend the woman on Facebook in January 2019, swap phone numbers, and go on a date, when in March 2019, the woman told Mr Kerslake that she did not want a relationship.
Mr Kerslake sent the victim hundreds of harassing messages. Picture: Supplied
Mr Kerslake began “harassing and threatening” the woman, making secondary accounts and going on different social media platforms when the woman blocked his messages, one reading, “you‘re a sh*t c*** aye but I still love you”.
Calling the victim a “b*tch” and “fat hoe”, Mr Kerslake sent more than 300 messages from March 2019 and July 2020.
Mr Kerslake was placed on 12 months probation and ordered to complete 90 hours unpaid community service.
A two-year restraining order was placed against him and no conviction was recorded.
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MOTHER POSTS MECHANIC’S NUMBER ON INTIMATE DATING SITE
Alissa Ann Robinson leaving Maroochydore Magistrates Court.
A pregnant Sunshine Coast woman, Alissa Ann Robinson appeared before Maroochydore Magistrates Court on December 20, 2022 after listing a man’s number on an intimate dating site, causing him to be sent dozens of unwanted sexual messages.
The victim, who works as a mechanic, had his number put on the free classifieds website Locanto by Ms Robinson who said in the ad that she was an “extremely kinky” 20-year-old and encouraged people to call the mechanic’s number.
Police prosecutor Mick Ruddiman said the victim received dozens of sexually explicit texts from unknown numbers.
Ms Robinson posted the mechanic’s number on the free classified app and website Locanto.
The court heard that Ms Robinson, who is unknown to the victim, had also messaged the mechanic’s boss, claiming that his employee had sent inappropriate Facebook messages to her about her one-year-old child, allegations that the victim vigorously denied.
Magistrate Graham Hillian told Ms Robinson that her comments were serious and “damaging” to the victim.
Ms Robinson pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to menace and harass and was placed on a $1500 recognisance order with no conviction recorded.
FULL STORY
LONG-TERM TINDER MATCH PUTS DATE’S HAND DOWN HIS PANTS
A five-year long casual Tinder relationship ended in a 29-year-old man assaulting a woman. Picture: Cordell Richardson
A 29-year-old man who was in a casual on-again, off-again casual sex relationship with a woman who he had met on Tinder appeared before court after he sexually assaulted the victim.
Appearing before Rockhampton District Court in April 2022, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault after making persistent attempts to engage the victim in sexual activity without her consent.
After a night of drinking with friends in Emerald in November 2020, the man grabbed the victim’s hand and placed it down his pants so she could feel his penis.
She removed her hand and walked home while he continued to make attempts to engage the victim, leading to her pushing him into a garden.
The pair had been in a casual relationship for five years after matching on Tinder, with the man dating the victim’s friend at the time of sentencing.
Judge Jeff Clarke accepted the behaviour was out of character for the man, stating “You simply should have kept your hand to yourself”.
He was sentenced nine months probation with no conviction recorded.
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If you would like any assistance in relation to the topics mentioned in this article, contact the following organisations for support and additional information:
- 1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732
- DVConnect: 1800 811 811
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- Australian Childhood Foundation: 1800 176 453
- Kids Help Line: 1800 551 800
- MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78
- Relationships Australia: 1300 364 277
- Office of the eSafety Commissioner: 1800 880 176