U up? I’m running for office.
A New York congressional candidate with a history of posting creepy statements on social media is now using fake profiles on hookup apps to recruit supporters.
“It’s kinda like catfishing,” Suraj Patel, 34, who is running against Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the Democratic primary, told the New York Times, using the slang term for luring someone into a relationship with a phony identity. “But you are telling people who you are.”
Patel — a hotel executive who also teaches business ethics at NYU — and his campaign volunteers create bogus profiles with photos of hot people on Tinder, Grindr and Bumble, then attempt to pick up other users as voters in a practice that he calls “Tinder banking.”
“Hi Sarah. Are you into civic engagement?” he messages one woman on the app before revealing his real identity.
Patel’s “Tinder Banking 101” guide — tweeted out by one of the reporters behind the Times article — encourages volunteers to use a stock photo of a “hottie” and to “keep the mood generally light-hearted and flirty.”
“People are on these apps to have fun ;)” it reads.
In an online post titled “Catfishing for a Cause,” Patel campaign strategist Anjelica Triola has said she came up with the idea as a way to reach voters ahead of a mayoral election in LA. “We considered how the alt-right spread rapidly through isolated individuals seeking like-minded friends on Reddit, 4chan, in gaming circles and more. Where else might we find lonely strangers, desperately seeking connection and conversation? Ah, yes — dating apps,” Triola wrote in a 2017 piece for the Magenta Web site.
“I whipped up a bunch of Facebook accounts with phone numbers from a burner app, as you do, and loaded the profiles with royalty-free shots of good-looking millennials — an attractive army of catfish, ready to flirt with people of all genders, sexual orientations and ages.”
Patel’s campaign, however, insists it was inspired by a similar tactic used by “young women supporting the Labour Party” in the UK last year.
“All of our supporters and volunteers had Suraj’s campaign logo in their profiles and the people they interacted with were excited to be engaged civically,” said spokeswoman Lis Smith in defending the practice.
But his underhanded tactics are rubbing potential voters the wrong way.
“This is gross and seems like a big waste of time for volunteers if their hope was to talk to voters…He is type of candidate I would want to support but this is a turn off…’keep it flirty’?!” tweeted Luis Hernandez.
“I am going on Tinder to find a cute boy or a cute person. I am not trying to have a political conversation. It’s catfishing and manipulative,” said Abby Brecher, 23, a digital account exec from Brooklyn.
The LGBT club Stonewall Democrats, which is supporting Maloney, is already encouraging voters to “Swipe left on Suraj Patel on June 26.”
“Catfishing, particularly in queer spaces, is widely known to be unethical. Suraj Patel should apologize,” it tweeted Friday.
The practice also seems to be in violation of Tinder’s rules.
“Don’t be fake. Be real instead. Soliciting other users is prohibited on Tinder. If the purpose of your message is to drive people to external websites via a link or otherwise, it is probably in violation of our terms of service and may get you banned from Tinder,” the app’s community guidelines read.
Grindr’s guidelines also prohibit advertising and impersonating other people.
This isn’t the first time Patel has engaged in questionable behavior online. In 2012, he posted gross Facebook comments about then-16-year-old Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, writing to a girlfriend: “We went to Top Shop. I bought a promise ring. Then they tried to arrest me” and “If this happens with McKayla Maroney … you can’t fault me, you know?. Sorry … you knew the deal.”
And in a 2010 post, he commented on a false story that claimed actor John Stamos had a fling with a 17-year-old.
“Dude, she was 17 — that’s not that bad. Have mercy!” wrote Patel.