Tinder scams had recently filled the headlines of news sites with an increasing frequency, providing titles and stories that could very well be taken from any episode of an investigative TV series.
It’s no strange that after reading, hearing, or knowing one of these stories, you might be asking yourself if it’s still safe to hang around on Tinder.
Fear no more.
In this article, we will provide you with an extensive explanation of the different types of scam attempts that you can face while on Tinder, a complete guide to spot fake profiles immediately, and some steps you can take to prevent being hacked, or act if you’ve already suffered one.
Note that this article will be updated constantly to keep it up to date with new forms of fraud, because you know, those guys never rest 
Tinder scams had recently filled the headlines of news sites with an increasing frequency, providing titles and stories that could very well be taken from any episode of an investigative TV series.
It’s no strange that after reading, hearing, or knowing one of these stories, you might be asking yourself if it’s still safe to hang around on Tinder.
Fear no more.
In this article, we will provide you with an extensive explanation of the different types of scam attempts that you can face while on Tinder, a complete guide to spot fake profiles immediately, and some steps you can take to prevent being hacked, or act if you’ve already suffered one.
Note that this article will be updated constantly to keep it up to date with new forms of fraud, because you know, those guys never rest
Here are some shortcuts to the contents of this article:
What is a Tinder scam?
Let’s put it simple: Is any action made through the app, aimed to obtain a benefit, usually money, from a user through tricks, pressure, or blackmail.
And just to be clear:
It’s normal that people disguise some truths or tell a lie here and there on their profiles or during conversations with their matches.
In fact, an average of 80 to 90% of online dating app users hide, exaggerate, mislead, or fiddle with the information they put on their profiles. And for the purposes of this article, that’s not a bad thing.
Yes, lying it’s bad. But it’s understandable when a person is not at their best and still trying to get their romantic life rolling.
Also, don't mistake a scam from a shit test.
What is a Tinder scam?
Before we dive into the full details and tips of this article, it is important to start from the beginning and explain what Tinder scams are.
Well, let’s put it simply: Is any action made through the app, aimed to obtain a benefit, usually money, from a user through tricks, pressure, or blackmail.
Let’s be clear right away.
It’s normal that people disguise some truths or tell a lie here and there on their profiles or during conversations with their matches.
In fact, an average of 80 to 90% of online dating app users hide, exaggerate, mislead, or fiddle with the information they put on their profiles. And for the purposes of this article, that’s not a bad thing.
Yes, lying it’s bad. But it’s understandable when a person is not at their best and still trying to get their romantic life rolling.
However, when the deceiving is meant for harm and not to find the next date, that’s when things go down.
And just so you know, both women and men are equally vulnerable to being blackmailed or tricked while trying to date online.
Hovalo tip: If you want professional help to know how much hiding is enough, get in touch so we can help you get your dating life back on track in the best possible way.
And if you’ve been asking yourself why they’re called specifically “Tinder scams” it’s because of the reach.
As you may know, Tinder is the most used online dating app worldwide, with a presence in 196 countries. Which is almost the whole world.
Meaning that in the same way that you can connect with an extraordinary person all over the globe, scammers can find their next victim from their couch.
Now that we know what we’ll be talking about, let’s jump to the next section.
However, when the deceiving is meant for harm and not to find the next date, that’s when things go down.
And just so you know, both women and men are equally vulnerable to being blackmailed or tricked while trying to date online.
Hovalo tip: If you want professional help to know how much hiding is enough, get in touch so we can help you get your dating life back on track in the best possible way.
And if you’ve been asking yourself why they’re called specifically “Tinder scams” it’s because of the reach.
As you may know, Tinder is the most used online dating app worldwide, with a presence in 196 countries. Which is almost the whole world.
Meaning that in the same way that you can connect with an extraordinary person all over the globe, scammers can find their next victim from their couch.
Now that we know what we’ll be talking about, let’s jump to the next section.
Different types of scams on Tinder
Unfortunately, scammers on Tinder are smart.
Only in 2019, it was reported by the FBI that more than 500 million dollars were scammed from dating app users.
And even though Tinder as well as the rest of dating sites are constantly improving their security measures to grant that only legitimate users are logged into their sites, people dedicated to scamming are constantly finding new ways to trick innocents into their traps.
Here are the different and most common ways that someone can be scammed on Tinder:
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Malware Scam
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Photo Scam
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Verification Scam
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Blackmail
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Venue Promotion Scam
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Business Scam
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Romance Scam
Catfishing
In general, this is how a good part of Tinder scams happen. And mostly, it’s directed towards men, but not exclusive.
It all starts with an attractive profile (we’ll cover its features a few sections ahead) that seems too good to be true.
Oftentimes, after the match is made, there will be a certain urgency to get off Tinder right away and move to other platforms like phone, mail, or even real life.
This ensures an easier way to pry sensitive information from the person as they can skip all the security measures from Tinder or whatever other dating sites you're on.
Needless to say, what accepting to meet for real can lead to.
How to spot a Tinder scammer or a Tinder bot
Now that you know the types of tricks that you can encounter while trying your scoop at online dating, it’s time to unveil the clues that let you know if you're in fact messaging with a scammer or one of many Tinder bots.
In case you don’t know what a Tinder bot is, it’s usually a program run by a computer put on the app to have interactions and bring out information without a human behind it.
Regardless of how fast a person can type, there are speeds that can’t be reached with a pair of hands.
Watch out for lengthy or several-word replies that come instantly.
There’s a very fat chance that you’re not talking to a real person.
This clue is losing its power as bots get smarter every time.
But the premise is that when a machine is replying, some answers will be illogical or won’t correspond to what you asked.
Although the replies can seem natural, you can make very specific questions, be tricky or confusing, and wait for the reply.
If you write something that makes no sense and instead of an inquiry for that you get a straight response, pay attention to other details that might reveal what you are talking to.
A huge part of scammers is indeed a real person rather than a bot.
However, a great deal of them aren’t native American speakers and certainly not even close to being bilingual, which shows in the way they text.
Have an eye out for the relation between the distance that Tinder shows, and the location they claim to be in. Remember that with any paid subscription (Plus, Gold or Platinum), the Passport function is enabled to set the location wherever you want to.
But this doesn’t mean that you can’t see if they’re located ten thousand miles away when they’re supposed to be no more than a hundred miles from your current location.
This will show immediately.
Bad grammar, poor spelling, and even the use of emojis out of place or context will be a good giveaway to tell that the person who’s messaging you isn’t who they say.
Put a critical eye towards the mistakes because the ones made by native speakers or high-quality matches are very different from the ones that a scammer will make.
You can also consider that many of these people are located in Nigeria or other African countries.
Something that will tell if you aren’t speaking with a legitimate Tinder match, who happens to also not be a native speaker is the words used during messaging.
You might notice strange slang, words that don’t make sense, or even that don’t even exist in your language or English.
It might be the case that from time to time, the messages don’t make any sense at all, and if they can’t explain what they mean, or they simply dismiss you pointing out the strangeness of their texts, well, you can start having your doubts.
Let’s be clear with this one because some people just have weird hours.
But if the replies always come in the middle of the night, you never meet to message in real-time, and there’s no mention at all of why they are writing to you in the middle of the night as if it was the middle of the day, this could be a big warning flag waved at you.
A person who knowingly keeps odd hours for whatever reason, who’s really interested in getting to know each other better, will tell you at some point why they have a strange schedule.
A scammer will always evade answering those kinds of questions or will come up with a poor excuse.
Maybe this is one of the biggest signals that you’ll encounter. Whether you’ve found a scammer or not.
For the purposes of this article, we’ll stick to the reasons why you should be suspicious about someone who doesn’t want to meet, and this is because they probably can’t and won’t.
A person planning to trick you, who is located all across the world will never be interested in meeting you by any means. Not even through a video call.
The reason should be pretty obvious: the only interest that person has is in your bank account, not in your feelings.
Hovalo tip: Regarding meetings, extremes are bad. Watch out for an excessive eagerness to meet, a total lack of interest in having live interaction.
Let’s suppose you stumbled upon someone who’s straight off the hook wanting to meet you by all means.
In the first place, by now you should know that’s not normal, but if you want to keep going with their flow for whatever reason, you need to pay attention to the kind of place where they want or maybe even demand to make the date.
Do a quick research on the location, look for it on a map and you might find there the red flag you were missing all along, without risking yourself any further.
We’ve already gone through this in the types of scam section, however, it’s worth repeating it.
When someone sends you strange links or links that should be taking you to a specific site but opens a weird webpage, it’s bad.
Also pay attention to the kind of pictures sent, because Tinder and most online dating sites don’t allow you to send other attachments, so the scammers will try to make you land into their malware-filled pages, or fall into their traps one way or the other.
Another extreme you should be keeping an eye for.
Well, in fact, every urgency from your “match” should be considered as a clue and wanting to get off the app or stay there is no exception.
It’s very true that some people will look for getting off the app right away, you might be one of those even, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there are ways to convince rather than insisting.
Anyway, if you stay on the app or not, clues of what they really want from you will be coming your way as time goes by to let you know what kind of person you’ve encountered.
Real people (should) want to make real connections.
Not everyone will have their social media accounts in plain sight, but if they completely deny after a reasonable time to share them, or if the ones they shared look suspicious, well… you should start feeling like so.
There is a real chance that you find someone who’s out of social media, but if they are on Tinder, it’s highly unlikely we’re talking about a real person.
And if by any chance you visit the profile and find strange things like just a handful of friends, few pictures, and no posts at all, you can start having your reservations about that person.
Someone who’s interested will share their social media when they feel ready to do so, will be honest in telling you the reasons why not sharing, or will be straightforward in telling why there’s any account.
Pro tip: Put an eye also on phone numbers if you step away from Tinder. You can look for country codes easily, so if you note that the person claims to be in a city near you with a phone number from across the ocean, you have every right to ask why and get a response in return.
Asking for your favorite dish, your preferred holiday destination or stuff about your daily life are normal questions when you’re meeting someone.
Asking for social security numbers, credit card, bank account, your phone number to run a verification, and whatever other personal data that is sensitive and crucial isn’t normal.
We’ve already said this, and we’ll repeat it one more time: don’t share personal information with anyone through Tinder, nor through any other social media, or medium of contact.
There are people that are just like that, we won’t deny it.
However, there are ways and there are clues to tell what they’re looking for.
Being too direct, too flirty, too rated R, too straightforward, jumping directly to send hot pics and every other fast way to get you on is most likely an attempt of catfishing or any other form of fraud in the making.
Usually, going so fast will also reveal the intentions at the same speed, so stay alert and step away from the game as soon as you detect that the person isn’t for a hookup and rather for your wallet.
There are infinite ways someone can get to this point.
They can have excuses, excellent sob stories, catfishing, or just asking straight for it.
Whatever is the case, be careful with your money.
There’s a chance the story and need are real, but let’s think for a moment, who goes to Tinder for help?
And you know what’s the worst part of this?
That most Tinder scammers work the same way: asking directly for money, and a good person giving it thinking they’re helping, when in fact, they’ve been tricked.
How to spot a fake profile
You might think that this should come first, but the truth is that the best scammers actually take some time into crafting a convincing Tinder profile, so their intentions would be revealed until the interaction starts.
Anyway, some of them aren’t as sharp as they think, and you can spot them before you even start interacting.
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Out of your league
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Only one photo
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No bio
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Uses "power words"
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Match through Super Like
Pretends to be famous
Did you find an influencer? A celebrity? Your favorite actor, actress, director, singer or what not?
Not really.
Pictures of famous people or stock photos from models are easy to find, steal and use. And unfortunately, they’re still a perfect bait to lure people into tricking them that it’s actually who they say they are.
Indeed, some celebrities use online dating apps, but Tinder is far on their list and unless your Elo score is through the roof and the planets have aligned just for you, chances are that you just matched with someone who’s not there for meeting people at all.
Anyway, if you want to be 100% sure you’re not missing your chance to date one of Victoria’s Secret angels, you can always run a background check of the profile or do a reverse image search to clear any possible doubt.
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How to avoid Tinder scams
Normally, the hints we just gave you will come in groups. You can’t suspect someone for doing only one thing or the other.
Most of the time, the behavior as a whole will seem wrong from the beginning.
The moment you don’t feel comfortable or that you suspect something is wrong, it’s your cue to stop answering, unmatch, or block.
Additionally, you can get in touch with Tinder to let them know if you spot a profile that’s run by a bot, or scammer.
And it never hurts to check out their security measures.
Additionally, you can run background checks through third-party services if you suspect a profile, make a reverse lookup to find if they’re stealing pictures or information.
Pro tip: Tinder is already working on a new feature to run these checks on demand, and let you know if a certain person has any criminal records.
How to avoid Tinder scams
Normally, the hints we just gave you will come in groups. You can’t suspect someone for doing only one thing or the other.
Most of the time, the behavior as a whole will seem wrong from the beginning.
The moment you don’t feel comfortable or that you suspect something is wrong, it’s your cue to stop answering, unmatch, or block.
Additionally, you can get in touch with Tinder to let them know if you spot a profile that’s run by a bot, or scammer.
And it never hurts to check out their security measures.
Additionally, you can run background checks through third-party services if you suspect a profile, make a reverse lookup to find if they’re stealing pictures or information.
Pro tip: Tinder is already working on a new feature to run these checks on demand, and let you know if a certain person has any criminal records.
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Reverse Image Search
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What to do after a scam
Background Checks
While Tinder sets up their new feature to do said background checks without leaving the app, it’s possible for you to do through sites like backgroundchecks.com or backgroundcheks.org if you suspect the person behind the profile that matched you.
However, you must take into consideration that this kind of study isn’t cheap.
To give you an idea, it can range from $30 to $60 and up dollars depending on how complete you want the search.
In case you suspect being a possible target for fraud, it’s cheaper than just break any form of contact with the profile and keep going with your life.
Final advice to have a safe experience on a dating site
We know, we know.
After reading all this chunk of advice your desire to stay on Tinder or any other dating apps might be a little down.
Don’t let it plummet.
Just like in real life, you don’t have to stop yourself from doing things that can potentially improve your life out of fear of something happening.
This is meant to inform you and ensure you have a nice experience with online dating. That you actually enjoy your time on Tinder and find someone who makes you happy and avoid any bittersweet moments that can be avoided.
Some of this advice might sound contradictory, and that’s because of the constant changes in the ways that scammers keep finding to trick users.
You also need to consider that finding a possible fraud involves more than one fact from these, and more people are trying to protect themselves by being cautious, so you might need some time before you’re sure what’s the case.
Final advice to have a safe experience on a dating site
We know, we know.
After reading all this chunk of advice your desire to stay on Tinder or any other dating apps might be a little down.
Don’t let it plummet.
Just like in real life, you don’t have to stop yourself from doing things that can potentially improve your life out of fear of something happening.
This is meant to inform you and ensure you have a nice experience with online dating. That you actually enjoy your time on Tinder and find someone who makes you happy and avoid any bittersweet moments that can be avoided.
Some of this advice might sound contradictory, and that’s because of the constant changes in the ways that scammers keep finding to trick users.
You also need to consider that finding a possible fraud involves more than one fact from these, and more people are trying to protect themselves by being cautious, so you might need some time before you’re sure what’s the case.
In the end, the best you can do is trust your instincts and your gut.
It’s true that there’s a chance you might let down someone on the way, but that’s totally okay.
Whenever you stop feeling comfortable, when things don’t sit right with you, or the moment you notice something out of the blue, you are in full right to step away.
Even if we’re not talking anymore about possible frauds.
Remember that’s better safe than sorry.
Also, take into consideration that you’re not alone in this and if you still feel wary about going out there on Tinder or any other online dating platform on your own, we are here to help.
Through Hovalo’s services, we will ensure that the profiles matched are high quality and real people truly interested in meeting you for who you are, and not in taking all your earnings.
So, go ahead, get back on Tinder, or open your account and have a safe swiping.
Until next time!
In the end, the best you can do is trust your instincts and your gut.
It’s true that there’s a chance you might let down someone on the way, but that’s totally okay.
Whenever you stop feeling comfortable, when things don’t sit right with you, or the moment you notice something out of the blue, you are in full right to step away.
Even if we’re not talking anymore about possible frauds.
Remember that’s better safe than sorry.
Also, take into consideration that you’re not alone in this and if you still feel wary about going out there on Tinder or any other online dating platform on your own, we are here to help.
Through Hovalo’s services, we will ensure that the profiles matched are high quality and real people truly interested in meeting you for who you are, and not in taking all your earnings.
So, go ahead, get back on Tinder, or open your account and have a safe swiping.
Until next time!
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