At face value it looks like one of many romance scams that plague the world of internet dating: lovestruck singles strike up conversations or share intimate pictures online, only to be faced with demands for money or blackmailed when the conversation sours.
However, con artists behind a new wave of “Tinder terror” which has snared lonely hearts on South Africa’s version of the dating app are not your typical love rats or fraudsters but agents of Islamic State, which is using the proceeds to fund its atrocities and insurgency campaigns across Africa.
Fake profiles using photographs of little-known actors or models are being used to draw in victims, said Nischal Mewalall, head of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, adding that the group has set up bases in Africa’s most industrialised economy to drive fundraising and recruitment.
