Burglars jailed for using Grindr to dupe victims into letting them in their home

Two burglars have been jailed for using the dating app Grindr to trick victims into letting them into their homes.

After arranging to meet their targets at their London properties, Rahmat Khan Mohammadi, 23, and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 27, persuaded them to provide their phone passwords by asking to play music on YouTube.

The Afghan refugees then stole the devices and quickly exited the properties before making online or contactless payments, as well as occasionally transferring funds to themselves.

Mohammadi targeted 11 victims in his five-month crime spree between October 24 2024 and March 24 this year, while Hotak offended multiple times between October 24 2024 and 23 December 23 2024.

At Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, Mohammadi was jailed for five years and Hotak for three and a half years.

Sentencing both men, Judge Adenike Balogun said: “I have taken note of the psychological trauma as well as the inconvenience caused to the victims, and the distress that all of them have expressed at allowing you into their homes – into their private space – only to be violated.”

Prosecutor David Patience had alleged that the men were targeted because of their sexuality and the offences could in effect been seen as hate crimes.

The judge said: “I’ve considered that matter very carefully and it seems to me that the presumed sexual orientation of the victims presented an opportunity for you to commit the crime, and in that respect I do find that the victims… were targeted because of their perceived vulnerability.”

However, she said they were not picked because the two men held “hostility” towards the victims’ sexuality.

Rather, it was because they knew that Grindr, as an app facilitating gay hook-ups, was “an opportunity to gain easy access into the homes of the victims”.

She added: “I suspect you were – and I put no higher than that – banking on the victims not reporting the crime.”

To facilitate the burglary and fraud, a Grindr profile was set up that nearly always had no photograph.

When the victims asked to see an image they would send one of somebody else.

A meet-up would be arranged and, on several occasions, Mohammadi would ask to bring a friend which would be Hotak.

Once inside they would ask the victim to turn on music, usually on YouTube because the phone could not be locked while a video was playing.

A distraction tactic was deployed where they would request the man leaves the room while their phone kept playing the video.

Their excuses included taking a shower before sex, making a drink and showing one of the perpetrators the toilet.

“In all the cases, when the victim returned to the main room you had left, or one or the other of you had left, and the victim found the mobile phone was missing”, the judge said.

John Kearney, defending Hotak, told the court that the men chose Grindr because “there is no comeback”.

“The application itself has enabled completely anonymous people to be invited as complete strangers into the homes of the victims,” he said.

Cody Aker said he lost photographs of deceased family members stored on his phone when he was burgled by Mohammadi between December 11 and 12 2024 before being defrauded by both men.

He said he was also taken to hospital this year with “severe psychological trauma” caused by the incident.

In his victim impact statement read to the court, he said he covered the heads of CCTV at his property with plastic bags because he saw the cameras “spinning as they observed me”.

He added: “I strongly perceive this incident as a hate crime – I was targeted specifically on the basis of my sexuality.

“The suspects used Grindr, a gay dating app, as a hunting ground.”

On December 3 2024, Mohammadi burgled and defrauded Lester Macabodbod, who told the court: “I believe they were looking for gay men because they believed we wouldn’t go to the police.

“I felt I was targeted as a victim because of my sexuality”.

The theft charge relates to when the two men met Petros Petrou in Golders Hill Park, Golders Green, north-west London on October 24 2024.

They asked Mr Petrou to play music on his phone before stealing it.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Petrou said: “I was led into a dark wet park late at night, while there I was encouraged to undress.

“My phone was taken from me I was left in shock, cold and deeply humiliated.”

The theft was “invasive and degrading and fundamentally altered my sense of personal autonomy”, he said, adding the loss caused “serious financial hardship” that forced to him to take out a loan to cover basic expenses such as food and rent.

He remains afraid to date people he has met online and it has damaged his trust in others, he added.

A jury found Mohammadi, of Weald Lane in Harrow, north-west London, guilty of 10 counts of burgling a dwelling, nine of fraud by false representation and one of theft.

Hotak, of Richmond Road in Hackney, east London, was convicted of five counts of burgling a dwelling, five of fraud by false representation and one of theft.

Mohammadi was acquitted of a further 10 charges and Hotak of 13.

Superintendent Owen Renowden, the Metropolitan Police’s hate crime lead who oversaw the investigation, said in a statement: “Mohammadi and Hotak carried out a series of callous, calculated, pre-planned crimes across London, targeting men and stealing high-value items and money.

“Their actions had a devastating impact on their victims. Nobody should be made to feel unsafe in their own homes and they will have to live with the trauma these men have caused them.”