A Maryland man pled guilty to making extortionate threats against victims in Massachusetts that he met via an online dating website.
Brandon D. Kane, 27, of Baltimore, admitted to using dating sites to meet his victims in Eastern Massachusetts. Kane wanted more than dates, as he enacted a more sinister agenda. He secretly made unauthorized videos of his unsuspecting victims engaging in illicit drug use or sexual activity with him.
This ammunition for his next move – using the footage as leverage and threatening to release it to their families and employers unless they met his demands for payment.
These acts of extortion serve as a jarring reminder of the risks that come with seeking romantic connections online. This phenomenon is far from unheard of; in fact, just last year, Netflix released a documentary called "The Tinder Swindler," detailing the story of an Israeli conman who used Tinder to allegedly swindle over 10 million dollars from multiple victims across the world.
Baltimore's Brandon Kane is also not a first-time offender of dating app crimes, it seems. In his home state of Maryland, Kane was also arrested for luring men to various locations, then subsequently assaulting and robbing them of thousands of dollars, sometimes under the pretense of paid sex, according to Fox 5 Washington D.C.
The real "Tinder Swindler," whose name is Simon Leviev, is a free man, despite many allegations and much evidence suggesting his guilt. Kane, on the other hand is up for sentencing for his crimes.
