AI used in dating apps

“The women fell into financial ruin because they trusted a man using a false identity to disguise his true self (Garaad, 2022, Hassan, 2022, Nicholson, 2022). Operating under a false identity, the man would charm women by presenting a distorted image of his wealth, convincing them to loan him money. Subsequently, he would defraud them of hundreds of thousands of dollars (DiLillo, 2022, Hassan, 2022).” (Lokanan, 2023)

Our research shows that AI is being used actively within popular dating apps. Not only is it used to create complete fake profiles of people who don’t even exist, but some people use AI to alter their real selves into someone that looks more desirable, to scam people out of their money.

How Scammers Are Using AI in Dating Apps

• Create profiles of someone who doesn’t exist
• Use bots to attempt to contact other people posing as someone interested, which later may need financial assistance shortly after
• Real people use AI to paint themselves as someone more successful, even luring victims to real dates, which escalates to financial scams later down the line

How these scams affect victims

“The relationship may continue for months or even years before the fraudster’s true identity is exposed, leaving the victims with a profound sense of betrayal, emotional turmoil, and financial devastation (Button and Cross, 2017, Cross and Layt, 2022, Cross and Lee, 2022).”  (Lokanan, 2023)

How to protect yourself from these scams

1.  If it’s too good to be true, it probably is –  Common sense can help in detecting fake profiles, if details don’t add up, inconsistent images of the person’s facial appearance (or even none at all), and if their description feels artificial, even for a human.
2. Love bombing – If the person is quick to be very affectionate with you or shows nothing but perfect messages even after showing incompatibilities or negative traits of themselves, it might be a scam in trying to lure your trust into a financial scheme. While love bombing isn’t a direct sign of a fake AI profile, it is a major indicator that it might be someone trying to gain your trust
3. Lack of online presence – Although some people may like to keep a more private precense online, if a person in a dating app has no other precense in any other apps or even refuses or comes up with excuses to not share them, the sender may be either a full AI or someone using AI to assist in gaining your trust.

The future of AI account detection in dating apps

“The solution is to let the algorithms handle the prediction and ensure that individuals registered on the dating sites are safe and can detect red flags of fraud early in the introductory process. Regarding fake profiles, AI-powered systems can process large amounts of user data, including users’ biographic information, message patterns, behavior, and profile verification, to detect red flags that manual processes may miss” (Lokanan, 2023)