A Grindr user in Dublin was left distraught after he arranged to meet a man through the social networking app, only to be ambushed by six men.

The Irish man, who lives abroad, was visiting Dublin on the night of December 21.

After chatting and exchanging photos with another Grindr user, a meeting was arranged outside the Morgan Hotel in Temple Bar at roughly midnight.

“I had arranged to meet a guy wearing a black leather jacket,” said the man in his 30s, who preferred to not be named. “When I got there, I saw the guy and approached him.

“When I went up to him and said ‘hello’, a group surrounded me on the pavement, and started taunting me and calling me faggot. I quickly realised I had been ambushed by a group of thugs.”

The alleged victim described the gang as being in their mid-20s and very organised.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it was planned,” he said. “He was the only person on that street I could see wearing a leather jacket, and the group were out of sight until I approached him.

“One or two of them were more aggressive than the rest. At least three of them were very aggressive, shouting at me… I thought they were going to hit me. They had me against a wall and I was just waiting for one of them to throw the first punch. Luckily I managed to edge my way around them and ran away as they shouted after me and laughed.”

The alleged victim was sent a face photo on Grindr, who he was lead to believe was the person he was meeting. He is now convinced that the photo was most likely fake, or one taken from another profile.

The incident was not reported to Gardaí at the time, but the man now feels it is important to share his experience to warn other Grindr users of the potential danger involved with meeting a stranger over the Internet.

“I want to make it known what happened so that other guys are not victimised like that. I couldn’t believe that it happened. It was such a horrible feeling,” he told TheOutmost.