Dating scams are constantly evolving, but so are our detection methods

When our Moderations Team was created in February 2010, the dating scam, like the world of online dating, was still in its infancy. Since then there have been big changes in how dating scams work, what techniques the scammers use to go unnoticed and ultimately, pull-off a successful scam.

The dating scam is constantly evolving and we’re no different. Before the Moderation team started, our Support Team, who handle all the day-to-day customer queries via email and on the phone, also had the job of monitoring activity on the site and worming out these ‘scammers’. Since then we’ve expanded and developed massively, allowing us to dedicate a team of people, specifically trained in the knowledge of scam profiles and scammer activity, to regulate the site more intensely. A team of 4 full time members back in February 2010, is now a team of 6 full time and 6 part time members who are now monitoring over 16,000 profiles, photos and messages every single day. Using their trained eye and our knowledge bank of ‘scammer’-ish behaviour we have acquired over the years, we are better equipped than ever to deal with dating scammers.

Things don’t stop there though. Scammers have often tried to slip through our nets by entering very little detail on their profile, keeping their activity to an absolute minimum, or sometimes none at all & as a result, our Moderations Team may have seen very little of these profiles. Aside from the monitoring of suspicious members, features like ‘Report this member’ (giving the member the ability to bring a suspicious looking profile to our attention) are very useful in counter-acting this sort of deception, but its success depends on users’ self-regulation.

However! There are now many more ways of tracking different forms of bogus activity & we’ve introduced new measures to combat fraud such as monitoring failed and suspicious payments and also, more recently, adding systems allowing us to more closely scrutinize what IP addresses are being used so we can block repeat offenders. This means that even the scammers who avoid activity and try their utmost to conceal themselves on the site, can now be caught quickly, saving a potential victim a lot of emotional trauma and distress.

Since online dating started, the scammers have become more intelligent and more resourceful, but the net has tightened and we are as adept at ‘fishing’ as they are. No matter how quickly they adapt to us, there are now fewer places to hide and we are always one step ahead!

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