NEW YORK - Over the past five months, about 1,100 men have turned up at Mr Matthew Herrick's home and workplace asking to have sex with him.

And Mr Herrick, 32, is blaming dating app Grindr, which is popular among gay and bisexual men, for the sudden invasion.

The New York City resident's attorneys filed a complaint last Wednesday (April 12), alleging that he is a victim of an elaborate revenge scheme by a former boyfriend whom he met via the app.

Mr Herrick claimed that his ex-lover had been creating fake accounts using his photos and personal information on Grindr since October last year, and inviting men to his apartment and the restaurant where he works.

"My entire life has been stolen from me. My privacy has been taken from me. I'm humiliated daily," Mr Herrick said in a January interview with Wired magazine.

"It's a living hell."

According to CNN, the complaint alleges that as many as 16 strangers show up each day to look for Mr Herrick.

In some cases, they were told that Mr Herrick would appear to be resistant at first "as part of an agreed upon rape fantasy or role play".

Some profiles of Mr Herrick, who also works as a part-time actor and model, also stated that he was HIV positive.

Mr Herrick's lawyers say Grindr shares some of the blame for offering a "dangerous product".

They likened the app to a car battery, saying: "If the manufacturer and seller both know the battery could explode, there's a duty to inform users of the risk.

"Not to mention a duty to evaluate whether the product is so dangerous it should be removed from the market altogether."

The complaint also stated that Mr Herrick had filed over 100 reports in Grindr over the fake profiles, but no action was taken.

"They were setting him up to be sexually assaulted," said Mr Herrick's attorney Carrie Goldberg.

"It's just luck that it hasn't happened yet."