During Government Shutdown, Grindr "Sugar Daddy" Scams Are Thriving

Thanks to the almost three-week-long government shutdown, precipitated because Trump can't get funding for his racist border wall, people getting scammed out of their identities are unable to report the issues to the federal government. One such person is 23-year-old Dalton Tannehill, whose scam story began when he was approached by a "sugar daddy" on Grindr, BuzzFeed reports.

Tannehill began talking to a sugar daddy on the gay dating app on New Year's Eve. After "James" the would-be Splenda Daddy transferred $2,480 to Tannehill's account to foster trust -- "I'm gonna be taking care of all your responsibilities from now on baby," a text message from James to Tannehill read -- Tannehill applied for multiple credit cards and bought $1,000 worth of Google Play Store gift cards at Walmart, giving James the codes at his request.

"I felt he did me this favor [giving me the initial $2,480] -- I might as well spend at least $1,000 to be paid back again.," Tannehill told BuzzFeed. "No worries, I assumed, since the payment went through the first time." But, after fulfilling the intial requests, Tannehill said that more came with texts becoming increasingly aggressive and sketchy.. When Tannehill blocked James' number, James took back the money he had originally sent.

According to BuzzFeed, glucose guardian scams are becoming increasingly common on Grindr, often asking users to open up credit cards and purchase gift cards, just as Tannehill was asked to do.

The Federal Trade Commission says that identity theft was consumer's second most reported complaint in 2017 and that credit card fraud went up 23%, as well. The FTC has two separate avenues for people to report fraud, IdentityTheft.gov and FTC.gov/complaint, though both sites are down during the shutdown.

The IRS also has a form to report identity theft but, hey, guess what, the IRS is also closed for business.

"This opens the door for a criminal to dive deeper into the victim's identity and cause more financial loss, which in the long run will result in more time expended in cleaning up the mess," cybersecurity analyst Robert Siciliano told BuzzFeed.

There are still a few things someone can do during the shutdown. People can place a fraud alert with the three big credit bureaus -- Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. But, Siciliano said, the most important is to be thorough in record keeping.

"Maintain all documentation," he said. "Make whatever phone calls you need to make. Contact your bank or the companies you need to contact. Do whatever you can."

Until then, scammers will continue trolling Grindr for DICK:

Details about your bank account to commit

Identity theft and ruin your

Credit score,

K?

Related | How This Man Became One of the Most Catflished People on Grindr