The CEO of Match Group, which owns Match.com, Hinge and Tinder, said he “sympathizes” with victims of scams on dating apps, but “stuff happens in life.” said.
Bernard Kim, who will head the online dating giant from 2022, said: CBS News While Match Group has policies in place to protect our users, there is nothing we can do if you become a victim of financial fraud and lose your savings.
“A lot of things happen in life,” Kim said of the overseas-based criminal who reportedly stole more than $1 billion from victims he lured under the guise of online romance in 2023. Ta.
“That’s really hard. I have a tremendous amount of empathy for what’s going on, but our job is to keep people safe on our platform. That’s first and foremost for us. It’s important,” Kim told CBS.
Match Group’s Trust and Safety Guild urges users not to send money to people they meet on its platform (which also includes platforms such as OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and The League) and to make wire transfers of any kind. Those who do so are also advised to report it. Gift cards and other investments.
“This is first and foremost a priority for us as an organization,” Kim added, according to CBS. “We work really hard every day to make sure people are authentic.”
“The unfortunate reality is that scammers can tap into the heartstrings of people looking for love and connection on dating apps and any online platform,” a Match Group spokesperson told the Post.
“For the past several years, Match Group has taken steps to prevent and alert users to potential fraud and abuse using automated tools that detect suspicious language and proactively intervene. We have also implemented various ways to warn users about potential scams using our technology, and created tips and common scammer behaviors to help users identify potential scams. , to help you stay safe and protected while online.
U.S. law enforcement officials say dating app scams are not new, but have recently proliferated as scammers realize how easily they can access lonely and vulnerable Americans. Ta.
“Romance scams skyrocketed from 2017 to 2023,” FBI Financial Crimes Chief James C. Barnacle Jr. told CBS.
When asked what has changed, Mr. Barnacle said, “The proliferation of dating sites.”
It’s unclear how many scams of this type have occurred in recent years, but CBS reported that the number is in the tens of thousands.
According to CBS, some estimates say 40% of the victims are men.
Meanwhile, a 2019 lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission found that Match Group data from 2013 to 2018 found that 30% of profiles on the company’s flagship website Match.com were opened for fraudulent purposes. He claimed to have shown that.
Match Group said the FTC’s statistics are worthless and argued that the agency is not legally responsible for interactions between scammers and their victims on its platform.
Most frequently, users of Match Group’s dating site are exposed to “phishing” scams, where scammers steal customers’ personal information, or to trick victims into sharing risky photos or videos, which are then used to blackmail them. It means that it was vulnerable to “sextortion scams” that are used as “sextortion”. The FTC lawsuit alleges that money was received.
According to CBS, a judge later dismissed the portion of the FTC’s lawsuit that held Match Group liable for fraudulent activity that occurred on the app.
In February, Match Group hired Twitter Inc.’s former head of trust and safety to lead its trust and safety division as fraudsters pose a growing threat to innocent users looking for love. .
Yoel Roth, a notable new hire at the Dallas, Texas-based company, said in a LinkedIn post when he “swiped right” on Match Group that he first forayed into trust and security 15 years ago. “At that time, there was a sense of a new world of dating apps,” he said. It’s like the Wild West. ”
