‘Like being in a vortex’: US report details extent of ‘devastating’ dating-app scams
Congress calls for Match Group and others to do more to help victims like Mary, who lost $100,000 to app scammer Mary met a man on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2024. She told the Guardian she had been looking for a connection, but instead became the victim of a romance scam that cost her almost $100,000. “There was a lot of conversation, and then it started with the constant contact, pressure…
A recent US Congress report has revealed the alarming extent of scams on dating apps operated by Match Group, a company that owns popular platforms such as Tinder, Hinge, and Plenty of Fish. The investigation, led by senators Maggie Hassan and Marsha Blackburn, uncovered how romance scams have become a leading form of financial fraud in the United States, costing Americans at least $1.3 billion annually.
One victim, Mary, lost over $100,000 to a scammer she met on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2024. She described the scammer's relentless pursuit, pressuring her for money and quickly escalating the situation. Mary was not alone, as the report noted that nearly 1.5 million scammers or bad actors had matched with at least one other user on Tinder and Hinge as of the third quarter of 2025. Furthermore, nearly 500,000 of those accounts had exchanged contact information with another user.
The report praised Match Group's recent efforts to combat scams, including the introduction of facial verification on the Tinder app in the US and a new AI model designed to detect scammers and bad actors. However, the report also highlighted that these measures came after a long period during which scams continued to proliferate on Tinder.
Match Group's senior vice-president of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, expressed gratitude for the committee's recognition of their advancements but also disputed the report's characterization of their investment and progress. The senators emphasized that more needs to be done to protect consumers and keep up with the evolving threats posed by scam artists, particularly those using AI to supercharge their scams.
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