Authorities in Medellín will meet representatives of embassies and popular dating apps this week after five foreigners were found dead in Colombia’s second city in the past seven days.
Police say none of the deaths were violent, though one of the cases appears to involve a man who was found dead in his hotel room hours after entering accompanied by two women.
“There have been some deaths from natural causes … from heart problems, others from suicide and others from overdoses,” Medellín’s mayor, Federico Gutiérrez, told reporters on Monday afternoon. “And in other cases, we see tourists going on dating apps getting tricked – and then ending up being robbed and murdered. This issue is very delicate and I have already spoken to the US ambassador.”
Over the past 30 years, Medellín has transformed from one of the world’s most murderous cities to a global destination for tourists and remote workers. In 2022, more than 1.4 million people visited the city, popular for its fair weather and warm hospitality, up from 200,000 in 2015.
Tinder has become a popular tool for criminal gangs to target the growing number of wide-eyed visitors, say crime experts. Local gangs employ young attractive women to lure foreigners on dates through mobile dating apps before drugging and robbing them.
Many of the cases go unreported as victims are too embarrassed to notify the police but a series of deaths in recent months has brought the issue into the spotlight.
Those deaths often occur from overdoses of drugs such as scopolamine, or devil’s breath, an intoxicating plant grown in the Andes which can be used to incapacitate people before stealing their possessions or cleaning out their bank account.
Embassies including the US and UK issued warnings to foreign visitors last month after the number of deaths related to online dating spiked.
The US embassy in Bogotá recorded eight “suspicious” deaths of US citizens in November and December 2023 while the number of thefts committed against foreign visitors increased 200% in the third quarter of 2023 compared with the previous year.
“Numerous US citizens in Colombia have been drugged, robbed, and even killed by their Colombian dates,” the embassy said.
Tinder also warned users in Colombia in late January to swipe cautiously given the spate of fatalities.
“Please remember to vet your matches, meet in public places, and share plans with people you trust. If something feels off, you can end the date,” users were advised.
Two British citizens died in Medellín from non-natural causes in 2023, according to the mayor’s office.
Police in Medellín said they were investigating the five most recent deaths.
In one of the cases, a 73-year-old US citizen, Turney Patricia Gail, is believed to have died after attending a yagé (ayahuasca) ceremony.
The US citizen Anthony Lopez, 29, was found dead hours after entering his hotel room with two women and Manley Mark Conlen, 37, also a US citizen, fell from the 17th floor in a building in the upscale El Poblado neighbourhood.
“The deaths may be due to an overdose or from taking a psychoactive substance,” said Yiri Milena Amado, director of the Medellín attorney general’s office.
Local authorities have attributed the spike in the suspicious deaths of foreigners to Medellín’s booming sexual tourism industry.
“We are going to be the first to recognize it. We don’t want to cover up or make up what’s going on,” Manuel Villa, secretary of security for Medellín, told reporters on Sunday.
Criminal networks are exploiting the lack of control authorities have over the city “to offer a whole package of services for the wrong kind of tourist”, Carlos Calle, head of the Tourism Observatory of Medellín said to the local newspaper El Tiempo.
Local government will discuss with dating apps this week how tourists can be better protected while dating online.
Some victims of scopolamine robberies say they are unjustly stigmatised as sex tourists and blamed when robbed.
A Facebook group for victims in Colombia intoxicated with the hallucinogen now has almost 5,000 members. With little faith that the authorities will catch their perpetrators, members frequently employ private investigators or work together to try to track down the young women who drugged and robbed them.
