Did you swipe right on a criminal? New technology aims to verify dating profiles

Online daters are increasingly getting scammed out of money
Be wary of who you swipe right on in the world of online dating — it may cost you.
A woman came across a man on dating app Tinder claiming to be a U.S. Army captain and quickly fell for him. He had promised to take care of her and her children, according to a report from Gizmodo, if he could just have money to get home. By the time she realized she was being swindled, she had sent him more than $700. After that, he blackmailed her with nude photos for more money. “I don’t know if you can help, but I’m scared,” the woman wrote in a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. “I just think it,,,,,,,,,…………………………….s wrong to victimize and rob people, just because they’re lonely and vulnerable.”

Stories like these are not uncommon: As more Americans turn to dating apps for romance, the risk of being swindled by fake accounts has also grown. The online dating industry in the U.S. is worth more than $1 billion, according to market research group IBISWorld. Malware bots prey on singletons swiping through Tinder and other location-based dating apps, in an attempt to trick them into handing over valuable information like bank account numbers or passwords.

Like the fake U.S. Army captain, these scammers trick them into thinking they are someone they are not and, in many cases, wiring money. This kind of “catfishing” — a term born from a 2010 documentary about a man who begins a romantic relationship with a woman online who lies about who she is on her profile — resulted in nearly $500,000 in losses in the U.S. between 2015 and 2016, according to the Better Business Bureau.

In response, app makers have taken steps to make sure their users can be sure they’re dealing with a potential mate, not a potential thief.

Location-based dating apps like The Grade and Tinder are forcing their members to connect through Facebook FB, +0.01% to create more transparency about age and real first names (or, at least, as they are given to Facebook). On Facebook, there’s a limit to how many times users can change their birth date, even if they don’t publicly display it. If someone changes it and wants to change it again, they will likely have to wait a few days before they can edit it anew.