Five men who trapped their victims through the dating app Grindr have been jailed after being convicted of a series of violent robberies. Demalji Hadza (21), Abubaker Alezawy (21), Ali Hassan (20), Wasim Omar (24), and Mohammed Sharif (22) have been jailed at Birmingham Crown Court for a combined 78 years and seven months. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:35These fences took place between April 2023 and February 2024
00:39where males were targeted for their mobile phones and their cash.
00:44They were essentially, the first two occurred in Derby
00:48where they came across a car crash that was staged in the middle of the road in Derby
00:54and the two men approached the offenders to help.
00:57Upon approaching them, they were dragged into the local park, assaulted and robbed.
01:01The fences in the West Midlands were using a dating app called Grindr
01:06where men were contacted, sometimes for several months, spoken to.
01:12They met in secluded locations in the early hours of the morning,
01:17locations such as parks and car parks.
01:20Upon meeting the offenders, they were again taken into parks, beaten up,
01:25resulting in injuries such as fractured jaws, black eyes, broken noses
01:30and threatened with weapons and further assaults.
01:34Then they were forced to open their banking apps
01:36and then they had thousands of pounds transferred out of their accounts.
01:41Standards overcome by data
02:01I think you've always gotta be careful, no matter who you're talking to online
02:05are they genuine, are who they say they are
02:08are. Always good to have a video conversation with them because when they say that they're
02:14a 20-year-old man and they turn out to be a 60-year-old woman you need to know that
02:22and that's really important. When they won't give you any details they expect to get all
02:27the details from you but they're not sharing that information and they're very reticent
02:33to tell you anything about themselves. These are the things you've got to look out for.