Queer men are being targeted on grindr then attacked and robbed

What is happening

Across Australia, groups of young men some as young as 13, are using hookup apps like Grindr to target, assault, and rob queer men. In some of the most disturbing cases, these men hold victims at knifepoint, film them, and force them to say they are paedophiles.

These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re coordinated attacks, happening in multiple states.

Victoria Police arrested 35 people so far. And that’s just from the reports that have come through.

But let’s be clear. What’s happening doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Violence does not exist in a vacuum

COVID didn’t just affect our health care system, it deeply affected our:

• mental health
• access to physical spaces
• sense of community
• ability to stay connected.

We have a loneliness epidemic. And at the same time, wealth inequality got worse. That kind of environment makes people

• angry
• disconnected
• vulnerable to radicalisation.

And when people feel powerless, they look for someone to blame.

You probably see it too this rise in reactionary behaviour and a come back of harmful narratives about us that we:

• are paedophiles
• are predators
• have sex with animals
• are mentally ill
• have some evil agenda
• prey on children to convert them

Now they're not new ideas. They’re being recycled and amplified by algorithms that reward outrage. These ideas are going far and they’re taking root in younger, angrier, and more disconnected audiences.

The alt-right content creators are successfully scapegoating us. They’re fuelling moral panic to distract from the real issues. Like inequality, mental health, disempowerment, and societal disconnection.

Now, I bring all of this up not because we’re going to solve global inequality, algorithmic misinformation, or online radicalisation. But to give you the context of what is happening online right now.

Ultimately what worries me is the reactionary people who then put their vilification of gay men into brutal practice.

You might be feeling a bit heavy but ill say this. they tried to get rid of us by:

• making us illegal
• using therapy
• denying the AIDS pandemic

And they are trying to get rid of us right now.

Is this a regression in how people see gay men

Is this surge in violence a regression in how gay men are seen.

Honestly? I do not think it’s a regression. I think it’s a cycle.

These moral panics and smears are not new. We’ve seen them before:

• In the early 1900s when Freud linked homosexuality with sexual deviance.
• In the 50s police entrapped gay men at beats and media framed us as dangerous.
• In 70s there was the “Save Our Children” movement that labelled us as child molesters.
• In the 80s and 90s during the AIDS crisis, where the reason we were getting sick was some moral failing and we were leading children down a dark path.
• In the 2000s, the Safe Schools program was attacked as a pipeline to “sexualise” children.
• And now, in the 2020s, the narrative is back again. Rebranded through terms like “groomer,” “predator,”.

These stories get recycled and fed to new generations through social media, often wrapped in memes, influencer rants, or "concerned citizen" rhetoric. And because social media algorithms reward outrage, the hate spreads fast and wide.

It's not a backslide. It's the same script, just louder, faster, and more targeted.

Keep yourself safe right now

Read Thorne Harbour's 10 tips for keeping safe but a quick summary is

1. Keep conversations on the hookup app, avoid moving to apps with location data like Snapchat.
2. Meeting in public, somewhere busy like a bar, restaurant, or sex-on-premises venue.  
3. Review the photos you send and remove any that reveal where you live.
4. Avoid linking your Grindr profile to your social media accounts.
5. Tell a friend you trust what you are doing and share your location with them.
6. Check if they're a catfish, one way is getting the person to send an expiring video on grindr.
7. Regularly check Grindr’s safety blog for updates on issues like this.
8. Learn Grindr's safety features.
9. Report it if it happens to you, always call 000.
10. Get support because you don’t need to carry the shame or stigma alone.

Listen to Hide and Seek for more information on these attacks

Episode 197 Grindr safety community forum 2025