FOI Dating platform crimes (0146-2022/23)

Request

I’d be grateful if you could help me to acquire as much information as possible relating to crimes that have been linked to dating platforms in recent years.

1. Between 1 May 2017 and 1 May 2022, how many offences were recorded involving the terms seekingarrangement.com; seekingarrangement; Tinder; Plenty of Fish; Ok Cupid; Hinge; Bumble; Grindr; match.com and eHarmony? Please provide a breakdown by year of the total number of offences for each keyword.

3. For each recorded incident, please provide the following details: dating website/keyword linked to crime, offence description, victim age, victim gender, suspect gender (where known) and crime outcome where possible.
4. I'd also like to know, for those years, the total number of investigations into 'catfishing', romance scams and dating fraud - I believe these may be categorised under subcategories of Home Office offence code 53/40.

 

Result

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that some of the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the located information to you.

1. Between 1 May 2017 and 1 May 2022, how many offences were recorded involving the terms seekingarrangement.com; seekingarrangement; Tinder; Plenty of Fish; Ok Cupid; Hinge; Bumble; Grindr; match.com and eHarmony? Please provide a breakdown by year of the total number of offences for each keyword.

 

Table 1. North Yorkshire Police – Total Crimes where MO field contains specified keywords.

1 May 2017 to 1 May 2022

(n.b. several supplied keywords have not appeared in this search)

 

Year/Keyword	Grindr	Match.com	Tinder	Plenty of Fish	OK Cupid	Hinge	Bumble
2017	0	0	2	2	0	0	1
2018	2	0	3	3	0	0	0
2019	4	2	12	7	1	1	3
2020	3	7	25	4	0	0	0
2021	3	1	25	8	1	0	2
2022	0	0	5	0	0	0	2

Please note that these key-terms are not mandatorily recorded within the MO Summary field therefore this disclosure will not be a true reflection on the matter.

 

2. For each recorded incident, please provide the following details: dating website/keyword linked to crime, offence description, victim age, victim gender, suspect gender (where known) and crime outcome where possible.

Please see the tables below that outline the count of Crimes above by type, year, age, crime outcome…. I am exempting a full response to your request pursuant to S40(2) – Personal Information of the Freedom of Information Act. This is to prevent specific incidents being identifiable and consequently the personal details of any persons involved being disclosed. However, I have provided disassociated tables of the data to answer your request.

(In every instance where a suspect was identified, they are recorded as being male.)

 

Table 2. North Yorkshire Police – Crimes by Recorded Type/Year of Occurrence.

 

Offence Type	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Fraud	0	1	10	22	13	3
Misc Crimes Against Society	0	1	0	1	0	0
Public Order Offences	0	0	0	0	1	0
Sexual Offences	4	3	8	2	10	2
Theft	1	0	2	3	10	2
Violence Against The Person	0	3	10	12	6	0

 

 

Table 3. North Yorkshire Police – Crimes by Recorded Age of Victim.

Age Range/Year	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Under 18	0	3	1	0	0	0
18-23	2	1	8	6	13	4
24-29	1	0	3	6	6	1
30-35	0	0	5	6	4	0
36-41	1	2	1	3	6	1
42-47	0	1	1	6	2	0
48-53	1	1	3	4	5	0
54-59	0	0	2	3	3	1
60 and above	0	0	0	5	0	1

 

Table 4. North Yorkshire Police – Crimes by Recorded Gender of Victim.

 

Recorded Gender	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Female	5	3	18	21	22	4
Male	0	5	9	18	17	4

 

Table 4. North Yorkshire Police – Crimes by Investigative Outcome.

 

Outcome/Year	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Charged/Summonsed	1	1	4	2	0	0
Finalised – no further action	4	6	15	16	25	0
Action by other agency	0	0	1	0	0	0
Still Under Investigation / Awaiting Outcome	0	1	10	22	15	7

 

3. I'd also like to know, for those years, the total number of investigations into 'catfishing', romance scams and dating fraud - I believe these may be categorised under subcategories of Home Office offence code 53/40.

0 records of Crimes under Home Office Code 53/40 found for the period requested.

 

Exemptions Explanation

Section 40(2) – Personal Data

Section 40(2) is an absolute class-based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair.

(DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1))

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In this instance, the number of incidents and records is relatively few, and the circumstances of the requested data so specific that to provide data which is completely tabulated as requested could lead to disclosure of data which would lead to the identification of individuals.

In all the circumstances of this case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to part of your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.