Tinder lovers funding Daesh in Africa, study finds

Daesh operatives are reportedly using the dating app, Tinder, to recruit members and secure funding for its operations, a report has revealed.

According to the British newspaper, The Times, the Head of the South African Banking Risk Information Center (SABRIC), Nischal Mewalall, told it that Daesh members in South Africa have been creating fake profiles of unknown actors and models in order to manipulate Tinder users into sending them money.

The revelation seems to confirm reports that South Africa is rapidly becoming a hub for operatives and sympathisers of the terror group, which was territorially defeated in Iraq and Syria around three years ago.

In a report in July this year, the UN Security Council expressed its concerns over Daesh using South Africa as a safe haven to rebuild itself, saying that the UNSC monitoring team had “detected a number of transactions of more than $1 million being channeled through South Africa by ISIS [Daesh] leadership to affiliates in Africa”.

Those affiliates include militant groups and individuals operating in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere in Africa.

READ: France cement firm fined $778m for funding Daesh in Syria

Earlier this month, the United States and its Treasury sanctioned four individuals who it said have been providing technical, financial or material support to a Daesh cell in South Africa. It also imposed sanctions on eight companies which were owned, controlled or directed by the individuals in that cell.

As for the Tinder app itself, it acknowledged that it has been used by “a relatively small percentage” of people for criminal activity and warned people to be wary of individuals asking for money.

In its policy statement, it emphasised its “zero-tolerance policy on predatory behavior of any kind. We have a dedicated fraud team that utilises a network of industry leading technology that scans for fraud and reviews each and every member profile for red flag language, and conducts manual reviews of suspicious profiles, activity and user generated reports”.

It reiterated that “no one, whether they met on Tinder or not, should ever send money to someone they haven’t met in person. In addition, we encourage our members to report any individual who has requested financial information via our self-reporting tool.”

READ: US sanctions alleged international network funding Daesh