Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the dating services platforms Match and Ourtime have launched a fraud prevention and awareness campaign, with the City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud in the UK, and the official police reporting line Action Fraud.
As part of a global effort by Match Group – the parent company for Match and Ourtime – the campaign will run across both platforms, informing members of how to spot the signs of a romance fraud and how to protect themselves online. Adverts, under the banners of ‘Stop the scams. Start something real’ (Match) and ‘Fall in love. Not for the scam’ (Ourtime), will direct members to a central landing page, offering safe dating advice.
Match Group stresses that the two brands have a moderation process in place to check and scrutinise profiles, including blocking IP addresses from high-alert countries, identifying stolen credit card numbers and detecting suspicious language in profiles. If the software identifies a suspicious account, this account is flagged to Customer Care team to manually check and remove an account if suspicion is confirmed.
Similarly, the Customer Care team is on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to respond to member complaints. Members are also regularly encouraged to validate their profile via self-verification.
Joanna Pons, VP Marketing, Match, said: “At Match, our members’ safety is our highest priority. The dating industry faces similar challenges to those that affect social media sites and society as a whole.
“We encourage everyone to take the same precautions when meeting people online, as they would if they were meeting through friends or in a pub, bar or public space. It is always best to keep conversations on the Match site or app, so that there is an accurate record and any concerns can be quickly reported. We also have a ‘report this profile’ function prominently positioned across our platforms.
“Match has a zero-tolerance policy for reports of serious offences and we encourage anyone who has felt exposed to unsafe behaviour whether through our services or anywhere else, to speak to the police, so that the matter can be professionally investigated and documented.”
Pauline Smith, Head of Action Fraud, said: “Criminals are using clever tactics to exploit people who think they’ve met their perfect partner online. Together with our partners, we are urging people to spot the signs of romance fraud and to follow our advice to stay safe online.
“If you think you’ve been a victim of romance fraud or any type of financial scam, please don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed – you are not alone. Anyone can fall victim to fraud, but it’s important that contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud. If you are in Scotland, please report to Police Scotland directly by calling 101.”
Romance fraud as part of wider online scamming last featured in the August 2022 print edition of Professional Security Magazine.
Meanwhile Muslim dating and marriage app Muzz (formerly muzmatch) has partnered with digital identity company Yoti, using Yoti’s photo verification to confirm every dating profile belongs to a real person; more in the March print edition of Professional Security.
Photo by Mark Rowe, street art, Newcastle upon Tyne.
