

Three men filmed themselves trespass and vandalise a UCL hall to promote their tech startup and bragged about it online.
The tech bros, Andrey Dobrov, Julio-Cezar Scerbina, and Christian Brown, filmed themselves breaking into Ramsay Hall in an Instagram video posted on 10 December to advertise their startup firm Loby (@loby.uk), which they describe as “Tinder for flatmates”.
The trio proceeded to document themselves committing vandalism to University property when they began plastering the accommodation with adhesive stickers promoting their business.
The trespassers began the video by saying: “We’re gonna try to sneak into UCL Accommodation to promote our app without getting kicked out.
“But unlucky for us [sic], the entries are closed so we needed to outsmart and outplay them [UCL Security] to try and get in”.
The entrance to the accommodation was in fact open – as it is at all hours of the day – but only to hall residents carrying their student ID.
The men proceeded to film themselves squeezing into the Ramsay turnstiles after coercing one reluctant-looking resident to let them through.
Hall regulations explicitly state that residents should never lend their access key to anyone else.
After they “successfully infiltrated” Ramsay, the trespassers proceeded to “slap as many QR codes to as many places as we can”, filming themselves leaving adhesive stickers around the communal areas of the accommodation, including on doors, hallways, one fridge-freezer, and inside a communal bathroom, all seemingly without the knowledge nor permission of residents.
But Ramsay residents may be forced to foot the bill for the vandals’ stickers should any paintwork be damaged by its adhesive glue under hall regulations.
The tech bros were ultimately kicked out of the accommodation after UCL Security “caught on to [their] mischief”.
This is not the first time Loby openly broke rules.
The tech bros admitted to “causing a massive line” at this year’s Welcome Fair at UCL after they blocked the entrance and demanded students download their app.
They said staff eventually had to step in to “banish us from the campus”.
On another occasion, Loby posted a video in which co-founder Christian Brown, a UCL theoretical physics graduate, pretended to be homeless.
The video shows Brown holding a sign stating “Homeless UCL 2nd year. Pls Help [sic]”, who then finds accommodation through the Loby app.
Besides evident insensitivity to the plight of homeless students, the post makes a misleading claim that UCL can make people homeless by kicking them out of accommodations at the end of their first year.
Loby, the startup company being promoted by the vandals, claims to be “Tinder for flatmates” and boasts around 100 downloads on Google Play.
Despite the claim, the company insisted it was “not promoting flatcest”.
It said in a video: “When we say Tinder for flatmates, all it means is that you can swipe and match to find flatmates based on your personality and lifestyle.
“So I don’t understand why you guys are trying to make it weird.”
Loby did not respond to a request for comment.
This article appeared in CG89