The U.S. State Department is warning American citizens traveling to Colombia not to use dating apps in the country.
The embassy in Bogota cited the "suspicious" deaths of eight U.S. citizens in Medellin between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023.
The deaths appeared to involve either "involuntary drugging overdoses or are suspected homicide," and the victims were robbed after meeting people on dating apps, according to the embassy.
The deaths are not believed to be linked to each other.
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"Criminals use dating apps to lure victims to meet in public places such as hotels, restaurants, and bars, and then later assault and rob them," the notice posted on the embassy's website warned. "Numerous U.S. citizens in Colombia have been drugged, robbed, and even killed by their Colombian dates."
One such victim was American comedian and activist Tou Ger Xiong. The 50-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, was on vacation in Colombia in November when he was kidnapped and killed while on a date, NBC affiliate KARE reports. His brother told the station that Ger Xiong contacted him asking to send $2,000 right away because he was "in a bit of a situation here." The next day, Ger Xiong was no longer responding to his texts and his body was found in a wooded area north of Medellin, NBC News reports.
The embassy said it had seen an increase in the number of reports of robberies involving the use of dating apps to lure victims, with most of the incidents occurring in Medellin, Cartagena and Bogota. In the last four months of 2023, the number of robberies of foreign visitors increased by 200% and deaths rose by 29% compared to the same period in 2022.
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The number of foreign victims of these types of crimes may be higher than figures suggest because they "routinely go underreported as victims are embarrassed and do not want to follow through with the judicial process," according to the embassy.
