Using a dating app in Colombia could bring more trouble than anything else for foreigners, warned the country’s US embassy, which has noted numerous thefts that involve drug overdoses, sometimes leading to death.
“Over the past year, the embassy has seen an increase in reports of incidents involving the use of online dating apps to lure victims, usually foreigners, for forcible robbery or the use of sedatives to drug and rob individuals,” the embassy mentioned in a notice published on January 10.
This was particularly the case for Carlos, an American expatriate who lives in Colombia and met a young woman on a dating app, CNN reported.
After a few drinks at home, he felt “weird” and didn’t remember anything afterward. He learned he had been drugged after a hospital visit. When he returned home, he realized that he was missing several belongings, including his passport and that of his children.
He would not be alone in this situation, according to the embassy, which is aware of eight suspicious deaths of Americans between November 1 and December 31, 2023 that involved unintentional drug overdose or suspected homicides.
“Several of the deaths indicate that they may have involved drugs, theft and overdoses, and several involve the use of online dating applications,” the embassy explained, specifying that the deaths do not appear not related.
The number of thefts committed against foreigners would have increased by 200% between the third quarter of 2023 and that of 2022, noted the Medellín District Tourism Observatory.
Violent deaths of visitors have increased by 29% over the same period.