The rise of the Tinder scammers: Meet the men who delete and re-download the app again and again so they keep appearing in women’s feeds – even after the ladies have swiped left
- Some Tinder users are employing a loophole to show up more frequently in women’s feeds, even once they’ve been rejected
- They delete the app, then immediately re-download it and sign back in
- The algorithm treats them as new users, so they show up in feeds of women who have already seen them again and again
- 27-year-old Alex Hammerli from New York uses the trick, admitting he’s ‘narcissistic’ and uses the app for casual sex
- The method goes against Tinder’s terms of service
- Some have also been accused of lying about their ages
Anyone who has spent time on a dating app may have noticed something fishy: No matter how many times you swipe left to reject them, some people manage to turn up in your feed over and over again.
According to a new report by The Atlantic, that’s because these users — in the case of this story, men — are using a sneaky little trick to get more screen time.
These men frequently delete the app, then immediately re-download it and sign back into their profiles — so they’re presented as new users and get bumped to the front of the queue, showing up in the feeds of hundreds of women who may have already rejected them.
Beware: Some men on Tinder frequently delete the app, then immediately re-download it and sign back into their profiles — so they’re presented as new users (stock image)
Go away! Other users have expressed annoyance that they see the same men again and again, even after they have swiped left to reject them
There are actually a few reasons you might see the same profile more than once. For example, if you’ve swiped through a lot of users, Tinder might recycle old profiles you said no to in order to give you more options.
But in this case, there are men who pop up frequently enough that users begin to recognize them, sure that they’ve already swiped left — possibly multiple times.
In several cities, they become sort of faux local celebrities, like Ian the lawyer from New York, or Craig, a muscular man whose age has been listed as 33 for several years.
Female Tinder users on Twitter and Reddit trade stories about these men, with several women chiming in to say that they, too, know the guy who claims to be ‘New to Toronto’ and ‘Tights Guy’ in Durham, North Carolina.
It’s important to know that this account-reset hack is actually against Tinder’s terms of service, but that doesn’t stop some unscrupulous users from employing it.
Kaitlyn Tiffany, a writer for The Atlantic, had been seeing a 27-year-old man name Alex pop up again and again when she finally took to Twitter.
‘Please: every single woman in New York has seen that guy on tinder who is standing in front of a huge granite kitchen island in all of his photos in the same position but different colored shirts, yes?
‘He deletes his account at least once a week so he can show up over and over,’ she wrote.
Dozens of women chimed in to share their stories.
‘OMG I thought I was the only one noticing this!!!’ wrote one, while another replied: ‘OH MY GOD I’ve seen this guy like 15 times!!!!!’
‘I literally JUST saw this person that I even remember their stupid bio: “you swiped right because of the kitchen island or glasses,”‘ said another.
This guy: 27-year-old Alex Hammerli from New York uses the trick, admitting he’s ‘narcissistic’ and uses the app for casual sex
Tracks: Alex describes himself as a ‘born and raised New Yorker,’ though his apartment — with the kitchen he uses to woo the ladies on Tinder — is actually in Jersey City
Cool: He admitted to deleting and reinstalling the every two weeks, and said he uses it only for casual sex
Yikes: He described long-term relationships as ‘idiotic in a culture where we move on from s*** so easily and upgrade iPhones every year’ and called monogamy ‘a fly-over state thing’
One more even posted a video of screengrabs she took every time she had seen his profile, with nine images in all.
Comedian Lane More, who hosts a comedy show called Tinder Live in which she gets audience input for her app use, said he once came up during a show.
‘This man literally came up on my Tinder Live show last month and no joke 10+ women in the audience had dated/matched with him, and they all stood up one by one like it was a support group,’ she said.
Others described other profiles they saw all the time, like ‘a firefighter pictured with a bunch of little kids’ and a ‘surgeon of some kind and his first pic is of him at an operating table.’
Kaitlyn managed to track down Alex, whose full name is Alex Hammerli.
Nice: He also admitted to being rude to women he chats with, saying ‘I’m very narcissistic. I own that’
Deja vu: Alex has a few signature poses that he likes to use over and over for photos
If you say so: He said that he saw a Tumbler with images like that several years ago and thought it was cool, adopting it himself to show of his ‘amazing wardrobe’
Alex describes himself as a ‘born and raised New Yorker,’ though his apartment — with the kitchen he uses to woo the ladies on Tinder — is actually in Jersey City.
He admitted to deleting and reinstalling the every two weeks, and said he uses it only for casual sex.
He described long-term relationships as ‘idiotic in a culture where we move on from s*** so easily and upgrade iPhones every year’ and called monogamy ‘a fly-over state thing.’
Alex also explained the odd quirk of his profile, that he has a lot of photos of himself in similar poses in the same spot, wearing different outfits. He said that he saw a Tumblr with images like that several years ago and thought it was cool, and adopted it himself to show of his ‘amazing wardrobe.’
He said women often tell him that they like his kitchen with some saying things like, ‘When can I come over and be put on that counter?’
He also admitted to being rude to women he chats with, saying ‘I’m very narcissistic. I own that.’
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