Romance Scams Are Everywhere. Does Your Dating Platform Have the Right Protection in Place?

Dating apps are not just about connection. They are about trust. When that trust is broken, the fallout can be immediate and deeply damaging. Romance scams, catfishing, synthetic profiles, and even organized deepfake crime networks now operate freely across platforms. The question is not whether your dating app is being targeted, but whether your platform has the right protections in place to stop criminal activity from unfolding.

Romance Scams Are Growing More Sophisticated and More Dangerous

In 2024, global romance-related fraud exceeded one billion dollars. According to a report, older adults alone lost $389 million in romance scams that same year. In early 2025, Barclays reported a 20 percent rise in romance scam reports in the UK. The average loss per victim reached £8,000 (approximately $10,100 USD), up from £5,800 (around $7,300 USD) the year before.

Cases in Global Headlines

• A criminal syndicate linked to North Korea is estimated to have stolen $4 billion through dating-based investment fraud, known as pig butchering scams.
• In Mexico, a woman lured men through dating apps, drugged them, and robbed them. At least one victim died. The crimes involved wire fraud, identity theft, and homicide.
• In the UK, 28 percent of university students surveyed in 2025 said they had received AI-generated sextortion threats on dating platforms.

These are not isolated stories. They are active, ongoing risks in your industry.

What Is at Stake for Your Platform

Every fake profile weakens the entire platform. When one person is scammed, thousands more lose trust.

If users feel unsafe, they leave. If regulators see repeated harm, they act. And when bad actors go unchecked, they multiply, and very quickly.

Real consequences of dating fraud for your business include:

• Decline in retention and user engagement.
• Distorted growth metrics due to bot and fraud traffic.
• Legal exposure from real-world harm.
• Damage to your brand when these stories go public.

Once trust is broken, it is nearly impossible to rebuild. You need to prevent the breach, not repair it.

Identity Verification as a Core Layer of Defense

Identity verification is the only scalable way to protect your users and your reputation. It prevents fraud at the source by keeping fake users off your platform entirely.

What are the benefits of integrating identity verification into your onboarding process?

• Block fake and synthetic accounts before they go live.
• Detect AI-generated images and deepfake attempts.
• Monitor location, device, and document anomalies.
• Ensure accurate age verification.
• Protect real users and your brand from cascading reputational harm.

Modern IDV is fast, mobile-first, and frictionless. Users complete onboarding in seconds while your platform gains long-term security.

What Happens When You Do Nothing

Public scandals tied to weak identity verification are increasing.

• Pig butchering scams, which often begin with social engineering via dating app conversations, have evolved into a major global fraud threat. These schemes involve long-term psychological manipulation, where fraudsters build trust with victims before convincing them to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms or fraudulent financial services. The FBI and international law enforcement now classify them as one of the most financially damaging forms of online fraud worldwide.
• AI-powered sextortion involves the use of deepfake technology or generative AI to fabricate explicit content or simulate communication that appears to come from the victim. Attackers then use this synthetic media to extort money, personal information, or further engagement. The rapid increase in these cases has prompted government agencies and academic institutions to issue public safety warnings, especially targeting younger users on dating platforms.

If your platform isn’t verifying users, you are exposed. Fraud does not scale gradually. It explodes.

How Incode Helps You Build a Safer, More Trusted Platform

Incode’s identity verification platform is designed for speed, precision, and security. For dating apps, we offer:

• Mobile-first onboarding with facial biometrics and liveness detection.
• Age and document checks to comply with platform requirements.
• Flexible SDK and API integration to match your app’s flow.

Incode helps you verify once and trust continuously. Real users glide through onboarding. Fake ones never get through the door.

Creating a Safe Space for Real Connection

Romance scams destroy more than bank accounts. They destroy trust. And in dating, trust is everything.

By implementing identity verification, you signal that your platform is for real people. No bots. No scammers. No second chances for bad actors.

This is more than risk reduction. It is brand differentiation.

Learn how Incode can help your dating app grow with confidence

Start verifying users in seconds. Build the kind of platform people trust with their most vulnerable moments.

Explore Incode Identity Verification today.