Dating apps are doing more to weed out convicted sex offenders with profiles. Such criminals are automatically banned from opening accounts on most dating and networking apps and sites, including Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Facebook and Instagram. Photo / 123rf
A sex offender on home detention was caught using multiple dating apps, and in another case a woman has described a Christian dating app as a ‘predators’ paradise’. Anna Leask asks how app operators are keeping those looking for love safe.
The woman was appalled when she saw his face staring out of her phone.
Michael John Danyon Fraser — a man she knew had admitted in court that he’d assaulted and strangled a woman with intent to commit sexual violation.
He’d been jailed for the sex attack, but four days earlier had his custodial sentence replaced with home detention after a successful appeal.
Now it seemed — unbelievably — Fraser was already trying his luck meeting new women on several dating apps including Tinder and Bumble.
The woman took a screengrab of the profile in front of her, and quickly shared it with friends.
They in turn shared the information on social media.
“A friend just sent me this, hoping it’s fake but if not please share — he has attacked [a woman] ... remember his face,” said one woman.
When the Department of Corrections was alerted to the profile by the Herald, it took immediate action, visiting Fraser and confirming he’d been using apps.
His accounts were shut down and Corrections applied to the court for additional conditions to be added to his home detention to prevent him from using apps further.
While Fraser’s present sentence is related to a woman he met in a Dunedin bar, he had also been on trial for raping two others he met on Tinder.
He denied those charges and in both cases was acquitted.
Corrections said while his conviction was not related to a dating app, Fraser needed to be monitored in that space.
“We are absolutely committed to keeping women safe, and are taking urgent action,” said Corrections southern region operations director Kylie Macdonald.
Last week Corrections formally withdrew its application on “jurisdictional grounds”.
While there is no court order stopping Fraser from using the apps, under terms and conditions for Tinder, Hinge, Bumble — and most social networking sites and apps including Facebook and Instagram — people with convictions for sexual offending are not allowed to create an account or profile.
But Fraser — and others — are clearly finding ways to join up and connect with unsuspecting women.
Last week a Wellington woman described a Christian dating app as a “predators’ paradise” after accusing a man she matched with of raping her on their first date.
The Herald on Sunday is aware of other convicted sex offenders who have been caught on apps.
One woman said she spotted a convicted rapist on Hinge in September. In court, the man was described as “a coward and an abusive manipulator who preyed on vulnerable women”.
He was sentenced to five years in prison after a jury found him guilty on two charges of rape. The offending happened when he was 19, but did not come before the courts for more than a decade.
The woman who saw his profile on Hinge said it appeared soon after he would have been released from prison.
“At the time, I immediately pushed the button to report him to Hinge, pointing out that he’d been convicted of rape and sent them a link to previous articles,” said the woman.
“While I recognised him from the reporting on the case, I’m sure there are some women out there who may be or may have been none the wiser to his background, which is why I wanted to flag it.”
In January, convicted paedophile Stephen Rainham told a court he continued to breach his prison release conditions by accessing the internet to create dating profiles because he was “lonely”.
Rainham was jailed in 2009 for two years and eight months on charges of unlawful sexual connection with a girl aged between 12 and 16, as well as sexual grooming charges.
He was released in 2011, but was subjected to an extended supervision order (ESO).
The order, which enables the Department of Corrections to monitor him, ordered Rainham not to have any devices capable of accessing the internet.
But within weeks of getting out, he was caught accessing the internet and recalled to prison for nine months.
Since then, he’s incurred more than 30 convictions for breaching the ESO or his obligations as a registered child sex offender. Many of the breaches occurred when Rainham would acquire a mobile phone and create Facebook accounts or profiles on various dating sites.
In his most recent offending, police discovered three mobile phones in his possession last year. One of the mobiles had the dating app Tinder installed and the others had Facebook.
Another man who was jailed for raping his Tinder date and filming the attack on her mobile phone returned to the networking app after his release.
The man matched with at least one woman and had been speaking with her on the app.
They discussed meeting, but before he would commit, he insisted on calling her.
“He kept saying he needed to tell me about his last experience on Tinder,” the woman said.
“So I agreed he could ring me.”
During the call, he disclosed he had been found guilty of rape and jailed for more than six years.
The woman wondered how he was allowed to be on Tinder given his criminal history, noting that he was using his middle name on his profile.
Kayla Whaling, spokeswoman for US-based Match Group — the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, along with other apps not generally used in New Zealand — said there were strict rules for anyone signing up.
“We prohibit anyone who has been convicted [of a] violent or sexual crime and registered sex offenders,” she said.
“Our terms and conditions authorise us to remove users who fall into any of the categories above, as well as to conduct searches of sex offender registries and other searches of publicly available records.
“If a user has been reported for domestic abuse, assault or criminal activity — past or present — while they are active on our platforms, all accounts found that are associated with that user will be banned from our platforms.”
In April, Tinder launched an AI-powered update to its photo verification process, allowing users to prove to potential matches they were not a bot or a catfisher.
The company told media the change was part of its ongoing work “to make the app safer” for its members.
Bumble is also using artificial intelligence to weed out people who should not be using the app.
“Bumble is a space to make connections in a safe, kind and respectful way,” said spokeswoman Lucille McCart.
“Our Community Guidelines help keep our members safe. They make it clear what’s not acceptable on our app and in offline behaviour between members.
“Any violation of these guidelines may result in the removal of your content, a warning and/or a permanent block from Bumble.”
McCart provided the Herald on Sunday with Bumble’s community guidelines, and said a further announcement relating to the safety of users was coming “in the next few weeks”.
“At Bumble, we have made a commitment to empower women and provide a safe platform for people to meet each other, which includes a human support network that works around the clock to enforce our code of conduct,” the terms state.
“In addition, we have proactive measures in place to try [to] prevent instances of hate speech or harassing language.
“Bumble detects content and behaviour that may violate our community guidelines with proactive safety monitoring, which uses AI-based technology to identify potential violations. This includes harassment, hate speech and other inappropriate content in over 100 languages.
“A majority of people removed from the Bumble app are proactively detected through AI-based technology. These safeguards capture behaviour which may violate our community guidelines and prevent further violations or harm.”
McCart said Bumble’s guidelines covered “a wide range of prohibited behaviours and content”.
“However, it’s not an exhaustive list,” she said.
“We retain the right to block anyone from Bumble apps for any reason at our discretion, including alleged criminal or harmful conduct brought to our attention.”
Furthermore, Bumble’s moderators work 24/7 and “proactively detect and flag suspicious profiles” within the app.
The team can auto-block or request verification when they run across suspicious profiles or notice certain profile attributes that don’t meet community guidelines.
Those members will not be allowed to use the Bumble app until they pass the verification process, after which a blue “safety shield” appears on their profile.
Police said dating apps were on their radar — and they acted fast whenever anyone offended, or if an offender appeared where they shouldn’t.
“Where police become aware of developing trends or criminal activity on a particular site, engagement with the law enforcement outreach team is conducted to highlight these issues,” said relieving Inspector David Kirby, manager of the national adult sexual assault teams.
Police could not comment directly about Fraser’s case, but Kirby said generally, offenders subject to court-ordered conditions including not using dating apps or the internet were “regularly monitored to ensure they are complying”.
“Any breaches are treated seriously and can result in a person being ordered to reappear in court,” he said.
“Police encourage people using dating apps/online services to take steps to keep themselves safe, and prevention advice around this can be found on our website.
“There are systems in place to report criminal offending that is discovered by police through the course of their duties or when offences are reported by the public.”
In the case of Fraser, Corrections will seek specific conditions relating to his internet use in a bid to prevent him from connecting with women online during his sentence.
“While the use of dating apps does not constitute a breach of his current court-imposed conditions, we are committed to doing everything possible to ensure we are managing this person as closely as we can,” McDonald told the Herald earlier.
“We have advised the court that we are preparing to put forward an urgent application for additional special conditions to further strengthen our ability to manage and monitor this person.
“I acknowledge that seeing this profile may have been traumatic and distressing for anyone who has been impacted by this person’s offending,” she said.
“We are absolutely committed to keeping women safe, and are taking urgent action.”
Corrections’ application for further conditions for Fraser includes:
Police encourage people using dating apps/online services to take steps to keep themselves safe, and prevention advice around this can be found on their website: police.govt.nz/advice-services/sexual-assault-and-consent/safety-advice.
Emergency services were called to the scene about 7.45pm.