The Calgary Police have issued a warning about a man who is believed to be using online dating apps to sexually assault women under a fake identity.
It is believed a man who is identifying himself as 'Alex' has been interacting with women on online dating apps, gaining their trust, and later sexually assaulting them
In February 2024, the victim had begun to exchange messages through a dating app, with a man calling himself 'Alex', which police say is a false identity.
After the two had exchanged several messages, they had their first in-person meeting at a local coffee shop about a week after first messaging one another.
The day after their coffee meeting, Alex reached out to the victim, asking her to come to his house so they could spend some more time together.
After the victim agreed and went to Alex's house, he began to sexually assault her.
He left the house shortly afterwards, and the victim reported the assault to police immediately.
Alex then quickly deleted his profile from the dating app and blocked access to his cellphone subscriber information.
The Calgary Police Sexual Assault Investigative Unit began their investigation, where it was determined the man had created the online dating profile using a false name, and messaged the victim under the false alias.
Through the investigation, they were able to identify the suspect, and it is believed that he frequents several other dating apps and uses fake names and profiles on them to meet potential victims.
Calgary Police identified the suspect as 43-year-old Ali Kiani from Calgary, and is described as roughly 6 feet tall, 195 pounds, and has a medium build.
They issued this warning after considering all the issues, including privacy concerns, and felt it was in the best interest of the public to let the public know about Kiani.
"I want to thank the victim for coming forward to report this sexual assault," said Staff Sgt. Tom Hanson of the Calgary Police Service Sexual Assault Investigative Unit in a media release about this suspect. "After an extensive investigation, we were able to identify the man responsible and hopefully prevent him from victimizing others who he has come in contact with via online dating apps."
The Calgary Police are encouraging anyone who believes they are the victim of sexual assault to report it, regardless of when it occurred.
Anyone with information about this incident, or any other similar incidents, are encouraged to contact the police or Crime Stoppers.