Dating Website Users Fall Prey To Fake Profiles

WSJ - Aug 31 - Victims lost ~$120M to "romance scams" in the first six months of 2016, up 23% YOY, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, which collects data on crimes primarily reported in the U.S. The $203M in losses from romance scams in 2015 exceeded most other Internet crimes tracked by the center. Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group North America, said scams affect a tiny percentage of 3.3M paid members in North America, and that antifraud efforts block "tens of thousands of people" from getting onto the site. The company said it also blocks users from certain countries in Africa and Eastern Europe. But it doesn't cross-reference photos with a reverse-image search because it believes that would flag too many legitimate customers.

by Jennifer Levitz
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Comments

[AdvanDate.com]

This is a dating site and member issue. The dating site MUST do more to weed out these bad players. General dating sites don't want to block certain countries because it could take away from their bottom line. Imagine if Match.com blocked Russia. They could potentially lose money. And lets not forget that members play the most important role in this issue. STOP SENDING PEOPLE MONEY! If you don't send the money then you don't get scammed. It's just that simple. I get that certain people are gullible. I get that certain people are lonely but you have to have some common sense when joining a dating site. Common sense that says when someone asks you for money, you say no.

Reverse image search alone won't stop this from happening. Member education and technology will stop this. Banks should also get involved.

For those that have niche market sites, the first think you can do is block countries like Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana. If you're a US based dating site, block every country but the US. Scrutinize every profile/IP. Monitor members activities and be proactive. This will help make your dating site less vulnerable to these kinds of threats.

[Mike]

My POF profile was recently hacked. The hacker assumed my identity and sent messages to many users. I am unable to contact POF since I can no longer log into the site. I can't find a way to speak with any customer service (if there is such a thing) without logging into the web site. What can I do?