Police are still looking for the suspects involved in a series of dating app robberies; the apps can prove to be dangerous.
University of Nebraska-Omaha professor Dr. George Grispos has been researching this very problem as more people look for love on their phones. He said to beware before you install.
“Several dating apps are actually transmitting data in plain text and as a result can actually build a profile of who you are, date of birth, your gender, your name,” said Grispos.
Even a third party can use that information to access your network and create a profile from that data.
“The problem is not just cyber security they can actually use that information to actually physically stalk someone and possibly repeat some of the crimes that recently occurred in Omaha,” said Grispos.
On Wednesday, Omaha police warned about several burglaries involving dating apps like Tinder and Plenty of Fish the victims arrived at the location and were robbed of their cell phones and cash. Grispos says from his research over the past four years even worse can happen, “Murders have occurred kidnappings have occurred based on data people have collected from dating apps.”
The problem according to Grispos is these apps are storing your data as you put in all this information about yourself into your phones,” said Grispos.
“If you lose your device it's so easy for someone to pick up your device and it's more likely the data is worth more than the device with the wealth of personal information stored on our phones,” said Grispos.
