Until, that is, Charley got an unusual message: “Can you lend me £50?”
Then the man on the other end went quiet for half an hour.
GAY MEN NAKED AND AFRAID PICS FULL
Grindr users usually have their full names hidden but people can of course choose to give out their name, as you would in most interactions. READ MORE: 'I’ve never felt more at risk': Women are making 'dodgy' journeys home in 'genuine fear' without full Night TubeĨ2 million expiring photos are sent on Grindr every year (Image: Getty Images) We chatted more, and he asked to look me up on Facebook.” ‘Fine, it’s easier to chat there,’ I thought. Last year alone, 82 million expiring photos were sent on Grindr.Ĭharley said: “He thought he recognised me, so he asked for my phone number to chat on WhatsApp.
They exchanged nude pictures, again not an uncommon occurrence on the app. “He said he was interested in coming over,” Charley said. The conversation between the two potential matches began fairly conventionally. But in 2018, he found himself the victim of a blackmailing sting.
The vast majority of experiences, he says, have been positive. Like four million LGBTQ+ people across the world, Charley, 34, uses Grindr for casual ‘hook-up' no-strings-attached sexual encounters in his local area. If someone said they were about to send all of your workmates and family pictures of you naked unless you sent them £50, what would you do? This was the situation Streatham socialite Charley Jarrett found himself in a few years ago.