From Grindr website:

Pay-Before-You-Meet scam

The scammer will agree to meet or interact with you, but will first ask you to send money, pay for something upfront, or sign up for a service before you meet.
The request could be for a gift card to keep their kids entertained while you meet up, money for gas or a taxi/rideshare, a membership on another app or platform, etc.
They will insist that you send them the money/ gift card or sign up for the service right away. They will then give you a false address or location and will not meet up with you.
This type of scam can present as many different personas. A few examples are: people looking for an in-person hook up, sex workers asking for payment up front, BDSM related personas, massage therapists, people hosting parties and events or group sex activities

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It definitely sounds like someone has a grudge against you or is trying to prank you in a very juvenile way.

If it's a prank it's a very unsettling one. If it keeps up and doesn't trail off eventually, I'd start to wonder if some guy is going to get seriously pi$$ed about his date not showing up, or he might think his date's inside OP's house and dissing him by not coming outside. And that could get uglier than men just standing around a few minutes then leaving. I do n't mean to scare OP, I just would be very unsettled by this kind of thing, knowing someone out there was giving out my address like this.

I agree. 7 is enough and the circumstances are weird enough that a PD just might take it seriously. At the very least, put it on their radar, so that if something does happen, you're on the record about what's going on and that you're not part of it.

+1

Report this, OP. Get on the cops' radar, even if they say there's nothing they can do (yet). Seven visits is not a quirk of an app, or a mistake; it definitely seems like an intentional targeting of your address.

Anonymous wrote:Ok - OP back with another update. Someone on Grindr is telling guys to meet them here!

This morning, within an hour, 3 different guys came to our house. The first knocked - when we opened the door, he said he had the wrong house and left. The second stood in front of our fence, looking at our house every so often. When DH went out to ask him why he was there, he just said he was waiting for someone and wouldn’t offer additional details. He left after about 15 minutes. A third guy showed up about half an hour later. I went out to ask him if I could help him, and he said he was told to meet someone here. I told him that he was the third person to come this morning, and he got very embarrassed and said “oh, well, someone on an app is telling people they live here.” I asked which app and he said “Grindr.”

Still don’t think there’s anything I can do to make this stop, but at least we know the source of our mysterious visitors!

Are these guys paying for sex and then showing up to meet a person who runs off with their money?

Anonymous wrote:Can you make a fake account on Grindr and send hookup requests to everyone local to see who asks to meet at your address?

NP. I can't decide whether that is very brilliant or very stupid.

Can you make a fake account on Grindr and send hookup requests to everyone local to see who asks to meet at your address?

Regarding the question of why did the first guy open your packages if he was coming for a grindr meet-up, its possible the person who told you he came bc of Grindr was lying. He was hoping you'd feel awk. talking about LGBTQIA+ sex and wouldnt ask further questions.

OP, does your address have a doppelgänger? Like you are at 777 hollyhock lane and there is also a 777 hollyhock circle in town?

Otherwise I would leave a sign - if directed here by an app, it is a scam and cameras are recording

Did you watch earlier footage? Did someone else arrive earlier, see the camera, and keep walking?

Sounds like he was telling the truth and the other person perhaps saw the camera and kept on moving along.

I've given up trying to sell or buy anything on FB marketplace. It's nonstop scams on there. Even the most mundane items turn into the "I am actually in a pinch. I have plenty of cash in my venmo account (sends screenshot of a loaded venmo account) that I can't get out because my bank account was compromised and I'm waiting for my new account to be activated. However, I am in need of cash right now. If you pay me the $25 in cash for the random item, can you also give me $75 in cash and I will send you $75 through venmo." scam.

I've encountered this so. many. times.

Put up a large sign in front of your house saying your house is not a meeting place for online whatever?

Be careful, OP. If it's a vindictive person who is setting you up, they could get drugs delivered to your house and then call the cops, or something equally bad.

See if one the the Grindr "dates" will give you more info. Then find the person on Grindr who directed them there and mess with them. I mean, don't do this, but report back if you do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It definitely sounds like someone has a grudge against you or is trying to prank you in a very juvenile way.

If it's a prank it's a very unsettling one. If it keeps up and doesn't trail off eventually, I'd start to wonder if some guy is going to get seriously pi$$ed about his date not showing up, or he might think his date's inside OP's house and dissing him by not coming outside. And that could get uglier than men just standing around a few minutes then leaving. I do n't mean to scare OP, I just would be very unsettled by this kind of thing, knowing someone out there was giving out my address like this.

I agree. 7 is enough and the circumstances are weird enough that a PD just might take it seriously. At the very least, put it on their radar, so that if something does happen, you're on the record about what's going on and that you're not part of it.

Anonymous wrote:It definitely sounds like someone has a grudge against you or is trying to prank you in a very juvenile way.

If it's a prank it's a very unsettling one. If it keeps up and doesn't trail off eventually, I'd start to wonder if some guy is going to get seriously pi$$ed about his date not showing up, or he might think his date's inside OP's house and dissing him by not coming outside. And that could get uglier than men just standing around a few minutes then leaving. I do n't mean to scare OP, I just would be very unsettled by this kind of thing, knowing someone out there was giving out my address like this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok - OP back with another update. Someone on Grindr is telling guys to meet them here!

This morning, within an hour, 3 different guys came to our house. The first knocked - when we opened the door, he said he had the wrong house and left. The second stood in front of our fence, looking at our house every so often. When DH went out to ask him why he was there, he just said he was waiting for someone and wouldn’t offer additional details. He left after about 15 minutes. A third guy showed up about half an hour later. I went out to ask him if I could help him, and he said he was told to meet someone here. I told him that he was the third person to come this morning, and he got very embarrassed and said “oh, well, someone on an app is telling people they live here.” I asked which app and he said “Grindr.”

Still don’t think there’s anything I can do to make this stop, but at least we know the source of our mysterious visitors!

But it must be multiple apps, right? The first guy was looking for a package, not a person.

Sorry, OP. This sounds stressful. Could you search for your address and see if anything weird pops up? Likely not, as people usually give addresses in DMs, but maybe.

Maybe it is multiple apps? Not sure. There have now been 7 instances of people showing up at our house. Sometimes they come to the door, sometimes they just stand on the sidewalk (like the guys this morning).

New poster. Seven? This is beyond creepy. I don't know where you are (someone asked if you were in DC--?) but in my suburb outside DC, our local police would be receptive if I called the non-emergency number and reported it, and asked for a cop car to drive around our neighborhood frequently for a few days or whatever. Yeah, I know there's nothing illegal about Grindr or about meeting on a public sidewalk or approaching a front door, but still, the repetition is the really dodgy part here. I'd at least try talking to the cops--no crimes here but it seems you are being pranked at best, harassed at worst.

Seven such visits do look like someone might be doing a Grindr version of doxxing you, OP. You and DH need to think hard about whether someone is vindictively doing this to your family. Do you have any kids old enough that they might have classmates or others who would pull this stunt on them, as a prank or revenge for some supposed slight? It's unsettling. And it would make me feel unsafe, to be honest, even if these men are doing nothing illegal and eventually go away.

Someone above said the first guy, with the packages, was likely not a Grindr hookup, but I think he probably was. He waited for his hookup too long, then realized he was on your camera for that long period of time. So he did the package nonsense and message as a cover story for his lingering so long. The "I wanted to see if the packages were for me" thing is stupid, though -- didn't the packages have your name and address on them? Why would he remotely think they were for him? Unless he was part of the scam others noted here, where people have items shipped to a random address and then go grab the item off that porch. But he would have grabbed and gone if that were the case.

Please update us.

It definitely sounds like someone has a grudge against you or is trying to prank you in a very juvenile way.