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Grindr Wants Your Email Address To Ward Off Spambots And Other Headless Torsos

img-grinder17_144137630351Your seemingly “discreet” exchanges on Grindr may soon require more personal information than your age, shape, and a tasteful selfie. A spokesperson for the app told The Verge this week that in order to combat a sharp rise in spambots, an update in the near future will require users to verify accounts by providing an email address and a password.

According to TV, users began noticing a new type of spambot exclusive to Grindr earlier this year. Usually taking the form of a handsome young headless torso, this particular spambot was well-versed in gymspeak, was constantly horny, and really wanted to let you know that he was getting undressed at that exact moment—hey, why not join him in a video chat?

After receiving “video chat” links from the headless torso of their dreams, some users followed suit and were redirected to sites asking for credit card information.

News flash: If someone you met 43 seconds ago on a hookup app sends you to a site like “MyGayCamCrush” and asks for your social security number, you should probably leave. Unfortunately, some people don’t understand how to detect and avoid spambots, so they get scammed and write poor reviews in Apple’s app store.

So congratulate those people the next time you see them, because they have ruined anonymous Grindr hookups for the rest of you. Though a future update requiring you to verify your email address would protect you from spambots looking to Skype with your bank account, it will probably also dump your email address into a Grindr newsletter or promotions folder, where you’ll eternally be locked into receiving inescapable spam mail from Grindr—the whole thing you were trying to avoid in the first place.

On the upside, Grindr admits that making this change will make them less popular and more competitive in the hookup app marketplace. Maybe now they’ll finally optimize their home screen for the iPhone 5, which came out more than a year ago…

Will you leave Grindr now that they’ll require your email address, or are you content chatting with the spambots everywhere else on your phone?

[Photo via Interview]

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