Authenticate a Dating Profile and Avoid Getting Scammed!

Are you sick of spending Saturday nights at home by yourself on the couch, beer in hand, scrolling endlessly through social media, reminiscing about the one that got away? Have you downloaded a dating app, swiped left and right until your thumb ached, only to find that every potential match seems to ghost you after a promising start? Have you mustered up the courage to text someone, only to discover they're not who they claimed to be, but rather a sophisticated scammer looking to exploit your vulnerability? Welcome to dating in the digital age! 

These days, dating apps are a gamble between finding a real connection with someone and trying not to get catfished or scammed. With the rising popularity of AI, images published online, and deepfake creation sites, it is relatively easy to create a fake dating profile. In fact, 1 in 10 dating profiles are fake, and dating scams garner 1.3 billion dollars yearly (FTC 2022). However, these numbers are just fractionally accurate as most scams don’t even get reported to the authorities. If you’re learning how to navigate the digital dating world and you don’t want to fall a fool to these scams, keep reading! Additionally, sign up on our website to get early access to our tools to help you identify scammers and fake profile pics! 

Blank spaces in a profile are a huge giveaway that their profile is probably fake. Even if someone has a hard time deciding what their favorite movie or song is, they would put something down just to give others a chance to connect with them on a similar topic. Scammers are going to want to bond with you, your favorite movie is their favorite movie too, so they don’t want to put controversial information in order to have something to bond over with as many people as possible. 

This is also a big telltale sign of a fake account. They likely just created an account, followed some people, and got right to scamming. A real person with friends and family will have more people that they are connected with than just a handful. Most real people have been using dating apps for a while as well, so they have opportunities to meet people and connect with them, leading to more followers. 

If they have spelling mistakes, or their sentence structure is often off, you might be talking to a scammer, or someone who didn’t pay attention in second grade english. Because scammers don’t want to spend effort talking to each person individually, they are likely using an AI app to generate sentences, which often don’t make that much sense or have contextual alignment. 

Dating apps have strict terms of usage and policies, because fake accounts and scammers have been around for a while, apps have gotten pretty good at detecting them. Dating apps are quick to ban people with suspicious activity, once your account is banned, it's really hard or impossible in some cases, to use it again. You might be saying ‘well they can just create more accounts, can’t they?’, you would be correct that they could, however, they would need to create a new email address and find a new phone number, which can get tiring and hard over time. Additionally, dating apps are also wary of people who create multiple accounts from the same computer or mobile device, which can lead to a permanent suspension. In order to avoid all of this trouble, scammers will ask you to just talk on another platform. 

If someone can’t meet up with you, they are likely a scam. Anyone who wants to form a real relationship with you will go through the trouble of meeting you first, even if you are far away. Don’t believe anything a profile says unless they can also make plans to meet up with you in person first.

Whether it be sending you a special package from afar, and asking you for the “customs fees” or “handling costs”, don’t believe it. Someone who wanted to do something special for you would do it without asking you to cover some part of a gift. Money can also come up if they are a businessman claiming to be an expert in investing and crypto currency. Offering to teach you, and getting you to invest in an unreliable app or platform that simply goes straight to their wallet. 

If you still have doubts about whether the person you are talking to is legitimate or not, sign up on our website to get early access to our tools to help you identify scammers and fake profile pics. We know dating online can be tough; we’re here to help. 

Sources: 

Fletcher, Emma. “Romance Scammers’ Favorite Lies Exposed.” Federal Trade Commission, 24 Mar. 2023, www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed. 

Maimone, Tiffany. “How to Swipe Left on Online Dating Scams.” Keesler Federal Credit Union, 9 Jan. 2023, www.kfcu.org/resources/advice/swipe-left-on-online-dating-scams/. 

O’Connor, Zoe. “Dating vs. Relationships: What’s the Difference?” Paired, 3 June 2024, www.paired.com/articles/dating-vs-relationship.