Duo jailed for using Grindr to carry out ‘callous’ burglaries

Two men who used Grindr to target members of the gay community have been jailed following a series of burglaries and frauds across London. 

Rahmat Khan Mohammadi, 22, and Mohammed Bilal Hotak, 21, were found guilty of burglary, fraud and theft at Isleworth Crown Court on 4 November. 

On 22 December, the pair were sentenced at the same court. Mohammadi was handed a five-year prison sentence, while Hotak was given three and a half years behind bars. 

The pair were part of a wider organised crime group who carried out 35 burglaries and 20 related frauds between October 2024 and March this year. During that period, 22 people were targeted. 

Investigators said Mohammadi and Hotak used Grindr to initiate contact with their victims, and once being invited into their homes they would persuade them to unlock their phones and disclose passwords. 

Stolen data was then used to move money between accounts, withdraw cash and make payments. 

‘Devastating impact’

Superintendent Owen Renowden, the Met’s hate crime lead who oversaw the investigation, described their crimes as “callous, calculated” and “pre-planned”. 

“Their actions had a devastating impact on their victims. Nobody should be made to feel unsafe in their own homes and they will have to live with the trauma these men have caused them.” 

Renowden added that the Met remains “fully committed to ensuring all communities in London feel safe, as well as continuing to enhance the trust and confidence LGBT+ people place in us. Organised crime has a devastating impact on society and will not be tolerated”. 

Jasmine O’Connor, from anti-LGBT+ abuse charity Galop, told the BBC: “We know Grindr is widely used by many LGBT+ people, not only for dating, but also for community, connection, and mutual support – particularly for people who may feel otherwise isolated. 

“Learning about the harmful and calculated manipulation of Grindr to target LGBT+ people is likely to have a real impact on our whole community’s sense of safety. More must be done to ensure minoritised victims of crime have meaningful access to safety and criminal justice.”

It isn’t the first time criminals have used Grindr to target victims. Last year, members of a gang who used the LGBTQ+ app to target the gay community before violently assaulting and robbing them were convicted of conspiring to commit robbery.

The five men were sentenced at the start of this year, with the shortest sentence being 12 years’ imprisonment and the longest 17 years and three months.

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