Grindr Scam?

[mrman]

So this happened about 2 months ago. Its long but read it and tell me what you think guys. Thank you. I tried to provide as much detail as possible. this happened on grindr a gay dating app.

I guess the things that really bother me is that I don't have any of the evidence of the extortion. It got deleted accidentally. I know the numbers by heart, but didn't save the conversation with the person on Grindr or on their voip number. I get stressed over the fact that their geo location was accurate with where their area code was and where they said they were located which was jenkintown pa. The app said they were 21 miles away and when i hit the gps it stated 21-22 miles as well. That scares me into thinking it is real. I know it doesn't prove that it is. I also freak out at the fact that their number rings a half ring then gets directed to voicemail. I keep thinking it does that because its off and sitting in a crime lab somewhere. I'm also stressed out over the fact that I am the only one that sent nudes and I contacted them first (they had a blank profile) and also asked to hookup and text first as well. So they weren't aggressive. I can't contact them at all because as stated the numbers go to a voicemail after a half of a ring. I'm trying to find out what that means when its a half ring then voicemail. I am also trying to find out which app they used to text me. The voicemail says "the party you are trying to reach is unavailable, please leave a message." Not sure if thats a particular voicemail for a specific app. My friend cannot get to them either.

I honestly wish I could go back to the day they messaged me because I would have saved all evidence, reverse image searched the picture, asked for the payment method, called them to try and talk, asked for a bill for the amount they requested (for the broken phone), to check and see if they deleted the app profile, and to tell them that asking for money is extortion. These things would have made me feel better. I can't help but think its actually a real parent and son who are doing shady business to scam me and they will delete the proof and deny allegations of which i have nothing to go on.

also interesting to note is the fact that when i call the numbers from my landline phone (not my cell), i get a busy signal for the 1 number with no voicemail option, and ringing followed by this number is not in service for the other.

this person is no longer on the Grindr site that I can see. But they may not have had to delete it or maybe they put up a picture of a different person. If the phone is sitting in a crime lab, the grindr account would be innactive and disappear around 1-2 days later from public view. If someone had that account favorited they would show up as offline. If they deleted the account it would be gone forever. I can recount the entire conversation here:

On Grindr

I messaged a blank profile which was 18 years old and 21 miles away. I said "Hey" and included a picture of my face. They said "Hey". I asked if they had a pic and they sent a picture of a person with their shirt off standing in front of a mirror with spikey blonde hair. I said cute. They asked "do you have any more pics?" to which i sent 3-4 nude photos. I asked for a pic in return which i think was a face pic but i really cant remember. it was not a nude photo. i asked if they wanted to hookup sometime to which they said yes. i asked where the person was from they said "jenkintown" (the geo location, phone number, and him saying jenkintown all match up). ok cool so i gave him my number. He texted me immediately saying hey and he asked about penis size. i told him and said how about you . he said 6'4" - 6'6 when fully erect which i still to this day don't know what that means. then he said "when do you wanna hook up?" to which i said whenever. he then said im free mostly on weekends and i said ok. I stopped texting him. about a day or two later i said "hey" to which i got no response so i just never texted him again.

about 5 days after the grindr conversation i get a text around 9:50 tuesday morning on the 13th. this was the supposed mother. here is the convo.



them:"i just found out you were sending and exchanging sexual messages and pictures with son whos underage. Waiting to hear your side before going to the police."

me: "hi whos this?"

them: "im matts mom, why would you exchange sexual messages with my son?"

me "matt was on an app known as grindr and he has been lying about his age."

them "did you even ask him about age?"

me " i always ask about age." (i didnt at this case because i had no clue who they were talking about) i dont even know who your son is to be honest"

them "then whats your number doing in his phone?"

me " i guess he must have added it to text me."

them " i found the pictures on his phone and asked it and he said he was sending them to you. he even damaged the phone to try and cover up. we are going through a lot we dont need this."

me "whats your sons number again? so i can block it"

them "2676690473"

me " ok well thank you for making me aware of this , i will block his number and tell him to do the same."

them " an apology is not enough, you'll have to replace the phone. if not im going to the police to file charges thats it."

me "how ?"

them "you'll have to replace the phone"

me "how"

them "by covering the costs to get a new one"

*about a minute goes by*

them "No?"

me "i dont know what to do your son lied about his age."

them " fine youll hear from the police."

me " wait i didnt say i wasnt going to pay. how much?"

them "its $290."

me " i dont know what to do"

at some point the say how "this is clearly child pornography!" which i don't remember how that worked into the conversation.

them "youll hear from the police"

me "only for a day"

them "what do you mean?"

me "i only texted your son for a day. and also he only sent me a selfie."

them "ok well we'll get to the bottom of this, you'll be contacted by the police."

later that night after going home from work i messaged them again saying

"i looked into this and no i didnt ask your son about his age but he was on an 18+ hookup app" or somehting like that i said. they didnt respond.


they didnt say anything after this and it has been a month and a half since this happened. i was so frustrated and i saw a lawyer for free who told me that i could be charged but wouldnt serve jail time based on this. she stated that she "seriously doubted anything would come from this issue". after i left she called me stating that she spoke to her lawyer friend who had a similar issue, and she was calling to tell me its a scam.

all i have on the issue is that the persons name is matt and he supposedly lives in jenkintown. there are a few matts on facebook in jenkintown none of which match the description of the person. the numbers are both voip numbers and i havent found any information as far as names for either numbers. i know they arent pinger numbers because the pinger rep told me so. the numbers are listed as non fixed voips under bandwidth.com clec llc smsenabled. i contacted bandwidth.com and they wont tell me much . i made a complaint and they sent a return email stating that after careful review they deemed my claim to be accurate and banned further use by the person. i asked what they found , but they wouldnt tell me . they did tell me that they will take someones word over the issue which i find hard to believe and is not what i wanted to hear . i wanted to hear the numbers were found to scam multiple people or something like that.

one mystery for me seriously is the voicemail. why would the voicemail do a half ring then go to voicemail with option to leave a message? if the phone is off it could be in a crime lab. but then when i call from the landline i get a busy signal or the number is disconnected or someting for the other number.

here are the numbers : 267-669-0473 is the first number. 267-630-5891 is the second. these numbers both come up as non fixed voip, bandwidth.com clec llc syabase 365 smsenabled. what does this mean?

If this was real it was across state lines not far because i live on the edge of a state. so it would/could be a federal issue so that could explain why no one has shown up yet. the lawyer lady said i might not hear anything for 6 months , but that also she doesnt think anything will come from this issue and later said its a scam.

i complained to the bandwidth.com website and they looked into it and banned the numbers but said they only just took my word for it.

please give me your input. the bold things i have are ones that i am wondering about if anyone knows about these things. thanks

[Wayne]

these numbers both come up as non fixed voip, bandwidth.com clec llc syabase 365 smsenabled. what does this mean?

It means they're not real numbers as such, but numbers that have been allocated to online companies to sell. When you call them, it's more likely it's either ringing on a piece of software on their computer or redirecting to another number you won't see.

I would take the time to read viewtopic.php?f=20&t=27612to understand how this scam works.

[mrman]

do you think its a definite scam?

[mrman]

also the bandwidth.com support team said there was no spoofing involved. so idk

[Wayne]

It has nothing to do with spoofing. You're comparing apples with oranges there. Now, if you read the thread I gave you earlier, you'll see exactly why it's a scam and how it works.

[mrman]

So I get different things depending on how I call. When I call from landline house phone I get busy signal for one number and a disconnected for another . For my cell I get a half ring then voicemail. For my work non fixed voip I get straight to voicemail no rings . How does this differ by each call method ?

[mrman]

Also if any other mods or forum people can weigh in on this it is much appreciated

[Wayne]

VOIP numbers, especially ones with a high rate to call, will be treated differently depending on the phone provider you're using. Skype for example won't work at all, refusing to allow the connection to be made. Your landline may connect, but then charge you through the nose on your next bill.

[mrman]

Interesting. And I'm sorry Wayne if I am being annoying but this is just causing me a lot of stress and I'm trying to exhaust all possibility of this being real and not a scam

[mrman]

I've only ever talked to this person on text. Never by voice