Scammer Faces Court For Stealing Credit Cards Of Men Met On Grindr

Police are demanding jail time for a scammer who allegedly used Grindr to lure men to luxury hotels before stealing their credit card information.

32-year-old Dong Qiao fronted the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Thursday afternoon, pleading guilty to four charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of attempt to obtain financial advantage by deception.

Presiding magistrate, Carolyn Burnside, refrained from sentencing Li until she had the complete details of his criminal history, saying she needed to have the “full picture before the court”.

“I’ve got to get to the bottom and work out the other matters before I can properly turn my mind to sentencing,” she said.

“Otherwise I’m looking like the silly one … I’m looking like the court has not got the full picture.”

Li was arrested following an investigation by Channel 7 News after he allegedly defrauded men he met through Grindr.

According to 7NEWS, the alleged scam involved inviting men to expensive hotels through Grindr, where he would secretly photograph identification documents and credit cards while they were in the shower. These stolen details were then allegedly used to pay for his own accommodation and fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Authorities believe this alleged scheme may have been running for several years, with several victims coming forward and speaking to the outlet about their experiences.

Li is currently on a community corrections order for similar offences in April 2021, though he is believed to have left Victoria for Sydney, where he was later convicted in September.

He also had priors for dishonest offending in South Australia between 2014 and 2016, and has a warrant out for his arrest in NSW for offences employing the same modus operandi.

A police prosecutor described Li as having stolen bank cards “in hotel rooms and used to make purchases including flights, additional hotel rooms and et cetera”.

Magistrate describes offender as “sophisticated… very intelligent” 

The revelation of Li’s priors shocked Burnside, who said she had no idea of the extent of his offending.

“If you didn’t have instructions to this effect, and I can only assume you didn’t, that’s poor in and of itself; that’s dishonest,” she told his lawyer, Katrina Hartman.

“Anyone leave the state, let alone reoffending in the very same fashion; it’s showing a lot of disregard for the court system, in my view,” she said.

“This is sophisticated, this is very planned, this is a very intelligent man who has repeatedly taking advantage of people who could be considered vulnerable because of their sexuality.”

Burnside requested a “chronology” from prosecutors plotting the dates and details of Li’s prior offending.

He is expected to return to court next week.