Swiping to find a special someone this Valentine’s season? You NEED to steer clear of romance frauds

Have you also experienced the rainbows-and-unicorns stage when you get that first flirtatious texts from a charming stranger on an online dating app? Maybe it was the COVID-19 induced lockdown or the idea of finding love from the comfort of the couch, more and more people are opting for online dating to find someone special.

But before you fall head over heels for these strangers, do want to know who else is looking for someone special there? Scammers, fraudsters. Since Valentine’s Day is almost here, there are a few things about romance frauds that you need to know now!

Online romance scams are definitely one of the worst as they not only rob people off of their money but preys on people’s emotions. A new Netflix documentary called The Tinder Swindler has gained the public’s attention because of the same reason. The documentary is about a con man, Simon Leviev (one of his many aliases) who allegedly defrauded several women he met on the dating app portraying himself as a son of a ‘Diamond King’. Three women have come out in the documentary, revealing that they met Leviev via Tinder and were conned of thousands of dollars by him. This has raised a lot of questions on how safe is it to date online? What are these dating apps doing to make online dating safe? How can users steer clear of such scammers?

Talking about the documentary and online dating safety, a Tinder spokesperson told BGR.in, “We thank these women for coming forward to share their stories and shed light on the realities of romance fraud. We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and are constantly investing in ways to keep members safe while they’re using Tinder – including a robust suite of safety features and in-app safety education, fraud detection technology, and working directly with law enforcement when needed. We strongly encourage members to report any suspicious behavior to us directly, so we are able to identify, stop, and remove criminals before they hurt anyone else.”

How does a dating app spot such fraudsters? To this, Bumble tells us that it has a dedicated team to keep an eye out for suspicious accounts. As per their statement, ” Bumble’s team of moderators work 24/7 to support our community, with a dedicated anti-spam team that proactively detects and flags suspicious profiles within the app. This team may auto-block or request for verification when they run across suspicious profiles or notice certain profile attributes that do not meet our community guidelines. If they do not pass our verification process, the profile will be removed. If they pass the verification process, a blue safety shield will appear on their profile.”

Online dating safety tips

Here are a few safety tips users should always keep in mind while looking for a partner online.

Block Contacts: If you are not comfortable speaking to a person on a dating app or getting unwanted messages from a user, you should block that person right away. You will find the option to block an existing contact, restricting them from seeing or texting you. This is also valid for the cases where the connection is asking for your credit card or other sensitive personal information.
Always check for verification: Whether it is Tinder or Bumble, dating apps have their own mechanism to verify accounts. On Tinder, you can see a blue tick on verified profiles so that users can spot them easily. According to Bumble, their Photo Verification feature allows you to see if a match has verified their photos, and also allows you to request that they do so if they haven’t gotten around to it yet. Unverified users will not see any connections on Bumble and no one will be able to see them.
Report suspicious accounts: If you come across any suspicious account, always report them then and there. This way, the concerned app can take the right action against it. Reasons for thinking that a particular account is suspicious can be that they asked for money, look like scammers, or have a fake profile.
Connection wants to leave the app: If the connection wants to just leave the app and move to a different app for private texting or calling. It is advised that one should never share their contact details until they fully trust the person
Unable to meet: If the user makes excuses to meet up in person or even for video calls, this might be a huge red flag that makes them suspicious. Users also need to stay vigilant if they want you to give out a lot of personal information and reveal very little about themselves.

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