Two Afghan migrants have been sentenced to prison for a series of burglaries in which they used the gay dating app Grindr to gain access to their victims' homes.
A Calculated Scheme to Exploit Trust
Rahmat Khan Mohammadi, 23, and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 27, were part of an organised crime group that carried out 35 burglaries and 20 related frauds over a six-month period until March this year. Their method involved creating fake profiles on Grindr, often without photographs, to arrange meetings at the homes of men in London.
Once inside, they would ask to play music on YouTube via the victim's phone, knowing the device could not be locked while a video was playing. They would then create a diversion—such as asking to use the shower or make a drink—to leave the room before fleeing with the phone and its password. The stolen devices were then used to make fraudulent online payments or transfer money directly to their own accounts.
Devastating Impact on Victims
The crime spree resulted in the theft of phones, passports, wallets, and other items valued at £68,000. The psychological impact on the victims was severe. One man told Isleworth Crown Court he lost irreplaceable photographs of deceased family members stored on his phone. He later required hospital treatment for severe psychological trauma and described covering his home CCTV cameras with bags because he saw them "spinning as they observed me."
Another victim, targeted in Golders Hill Park in October 2024, said he was left "cold and deeply humiliated" after being encouraged to undress before his phone was stolen. He suffered serious financial hardship, forcing him to take out a loan for basic expenses like food and rent, and his trust in others was profoundly damaged.
Sentencing and the Hate Crime Question
On Monday, Judge Adenike Balogun sentenced Mohammadi to five years in prison and Hotak to three-and-a-half years. Mohammadi was convicted of 10 counts of burglary, nine of fraud, and one theft. Hotak was found guilty of five burglaries, five frauds, and one theft.
The judge acknowledged that the men targeted victims based on their perceived vulnerability as gay men using Grindr, which provided "an opportunity to gain easy access into the homes of the victims." However, she concluded the offences were not motivated by hostility towards the victims' sexuality, but by opportunity, noting the perpetrators likely banked on victims being reluctant to report the crimes.
Defence counsel John Kearney stated the app was chosen precisely because "there is no comeback," enabling anonymous strangers to be invited into private homes.
Police Response and Community Confidence
The Metropolitan Police's investigation began after detectives noticed a pattern of phone thefts where Grindr was a common factor. Detective Inspector Mark Gavin from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command acknowledged that trust in the police is lower within the LGBT+ community and said ensuring victims felt "heard, believed and taken seriously" was a key focus.
Superintendent Owen Renowden, the Met's hate crime lead, condemned the "callous, calculated, pre-planned crimes" and their devastating impact, stressing that "nobody should be made to feel unsafe in their own homes."
