Violent crime and sex attacks linked to online dating doubles in three years
Crimes linked to online dating including violence, rape, sexual assaults and blackmail have more than doubled in three years and are likely to be even higher.
Crimes linked to online dating including violence, rape, sexual assaults and blackmail have more than doubled in three years and are likely to be even higher.
Dating websites were named in 378 police crime reports last year, up from 180 in 2013.
However the real total will rise inevitably as almost half the 43 forces in England and Wales did not respond to a Freedom of Information request.
Between 2013 and 2015, dating sites were linked to 828 cases, including 88 allegations of rape, 49 sex attacks and 180 violent crimes with women thought to make up 85 per cent of dating site crime victims.
There were also 115 harassment and stalking cases and 43 of blackmail following warnings by the National Crime Agency (NCA) that a new type of sexual offender is exploiting the web.
Website Plenty Of Fish was the worst offender named by police in The Sun on Sunday report.
It was mentioned in 63 reports including eight rapes. Badoo features in 17 reports, including two rapes.
Other offences reported include grooming, fraud, child abuse and abduction and threats to kill.
Just last year a mother of two was murdered after being attacked by her possessive boyfriend, who she had met through Plenty Of Fish.
Darren Jeffreys, 47, repeatedly punched 45-year-old Karen Catherall in the head and strangled her in an alcohol-fuelled attack at her home in Gwernaffield near Mold, Flintshire.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison for her murder.
Meanwhile police are linking three robberies where the male victims were all targeted through a dating website.
A man, 56, in Tilehurst, Berkshire, and a man in his 40s in Frimley, Surrey, were robbed in their homes within 14 hours of each other. Detectives believe they are connected to the knifepoint robbery of a man in his 20s in Readings Victoria Park a week earlier.
All three had arranged meetings through fabguys.com.
An NCA report this month said: This is aided by potential victims not thinking of them as strangers, but someone they have got to know.