Man Sues Grindr After Fake Profile Prompts Over 700 Men To Show Up At His Work For Sex

Think of your most awkward workplace story. We’ve all had them and in some cases, they’re pretty excruciatingly cringey.

But no matter how inappropriate the secret Santa you gave your boss was. No matter how embarrassing those unwanted bowel movements were… Your worst embarrassment at work pales in comparison to this guy’s!

Matthew Herrick from New York is suing Grindr because its use led to 700 men turning up for sex… at his workplace.

The Story

So how does something like that happen? As ever, it is the work of a bitter ex.

On this occasion, Matthew’s bitter ex-boyfriend reportedly got hold of his phone and used it to impersonate him on the popular dating app Grindr. In fact, his ex made multiple profiles starting in October 2015, after which strange men started to show up at Matthew’s apartment. Worse, they also started showing up at the restaurant where he worked. Sometimes, he would get as many as nine people visiting in a day, mostly with the understanding that they were there to have sex.

Herrick estimates that in total, he must have had around 700 men visit him at home and at work hoping for a romantic liaison.

How would your boss react?

And can we take a step back for a moment here to address the other victims? This would have been pretty embarrassing for those 700 guys too!

Herrick also claims that his ex began giving out his phone number. On top of the 700 visits then, he also had a huge number of unsolicited text messages, many with sexual content and nude photos.

While this might sound like a prank gone too far at this point, things started to get nasty when the fake profiles began to describe him as being interested in ‘rough and unprotected sex, orgies, and drug use’. Several of the visitors were reportedly violent and it’s very easy to see how this might have gotten out of hand. One visitor reportedly believed that they would be participating in a rape fantasy and that Herrick would ‘say no when he means yes’. The man became violent when asked to leave.

Who is Responsible?

Far from being a joke then, this was actually a cruel and dangerous action on the part of Herrick’s ex and it is highly fortunate that he has not yet been seriously harmed.

The events have taken their emotional turmoil though and Matthew is quoted as saying:

“My entire life has been stolen from me. My privacy has been taken from me. I’m humiliated daily. It’s a living hell.”

Rather than pursue the party responsible however, Herrick is instead going after Grindr which should have stricter policies in place to ensure that people really are who they say they are. This is a difficult subject though, as it’s hard to imagine how dating sites can truly ensure that without asking for driving licenses and passports before you can set up a profile.

Hopefully we are not moving toward a time where it takes five days to set up a Facebook account. That said, sites like Grindr do have an unusually high responsibility to keep their members safe and it’s important that they take this responsibility seriously.

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By Action LGBTQ Staff

7 years ago

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