How ‘UK’s Tinder Swindler’ secretly scammed women of $167,000

A Tinder fraudster in the UK scammed women out of large sums by secretly photographing their driving licences in order to take out loans in their names. Photo / Tinder

A Tinder fraudster in the UK scammed women out of £80,000 ($167,000) by secretly photographing their driving licences in order to take out loans in their names.

Peter Gray, 35, who defrauded four women he met on the dating app Tinder, was sentenced to 56 months in prison in February and handed restraining orders in relation to the victims.

The victims are now warning others to do background checks on partners they have met online. One said Gray, from Mirfield, West Yorkshire, had “totally ruined my life” and left her with trust issues.

After the incident, Tinder said it had “implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Clare McDonnell, Jessica (which is not her real name) said she met Gray on the app in 2018 after coming out of a six-year relationship.

She described him as “a good listener and everything I needed at the time”. But during their third date, when Jessica was at his apartment and went to the lavatory, Gray secretly photographed her driving licence and bank cards.

She said: “I left my bag on his dining table, he went in my bag and took pictures of my driving licence and both my bank cards.”

Jessica later discovered loans up to the value of £9000 ($18,800) had been taken out in her name. Despite Gray offering to pay back the money over time, she went to the police.

‘Totally ruined my life’

“I didn’t want to be tied to this guy for five years because I barely even knew him,” she said.

She said his actions had “totally ruined my life” and that she has stopped taking identification and bank cards out on dates. “I don’t trust anybody I meet,” she added.

Hannah, another woman who met Gray on Tinder, described him as being initially “calming and reassuring”, but added that something “didn’t sit right”.

A week after Hannah ended her relationship with Gray, she received an acceptance letter for a loan of £20,000 ($41,800) in her name. Despite this, they rekindled the relationship months later after Gray declared his love for her and showered her with gifts; however, she later ended it again. “I think the alarm bells and red flags were just waving high,” she said.

When Hannah discovered she was pregnant, her sister looked into Gray’s past and found one of his former partners, who warned her of his history.

Peter Gray was jailed for 56 months after taking photographs of driving licences and bank cards while on meetings arranged via dating app Tinder. Photo / West Yorkshire Police

‘Vile human’

Hannah said: “There’s no way that I’m going to let a child be brought up anywhere near such a vile human.

“My world had just literally broken apart in front of my eyes in that half-an-hour conversation.”

Gray repeated the pattern once again when he was matched in 2020 with Elizabeth (not her real name), who had her mortgage pulled two days before moving into her new house, after Gray used her driving licence to secure a loan of about £10,000 ($20,900) in her name.

Elizabeth said: “Red flags popped up, but I just kept thinking, ‘Stop being silly, you need to be going for a guy that treats you nice.’

“You’re constantly thinking, ‘Is this person who they say they are or are they not?’”

Two of the women individually used Clare’s Law, a Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, which allows people to ask police for a background check on their partner.

A Tinder spokesman said: “The unfortunate reality is that scammers may pull on the heartstrings and prey on those looking for love or connection – not just on dating apps but on all online platforms.

Peter Gray defrauded four women he met on the dating app Tinder. Photo / 123rf

“Tinder acts to help prevent and warn users of potential scams or fraud by using AI tools to detect words and phrases and proactively intervene.

“We have implemented various ways to warn users of potential scams or fraud, from in-app features to pop-up messages and education.

“We encourage our users to look for the ‘blue tick’, which indicates that the user’s age and likeness have been verified through our Photo and ID Verification programmes, which require users to submit an official document (either passport or driving licence).

“All users can request that their match be photo-verified prior to messaging. We also partner with NGOs and local authorities to promote awareness of online fraud.”