Scams

Gay dating app Manhunt says that it was hacked in February of this year, and the personal data of a portion of its users was exposed. 

A hacker caused the data breach according to a statement submitted by the company to the Washington State Attorney General. Manhunt maintains that the hacker “downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users in early February 2021,” according to The Advocate. 

Manhunt has over 6 million users, and about 7,700 of its users who reside in Washington had their data stolen according to the statement. In total, the company’s attorney says about 11 percent of Manhunt users were affected by the breach.

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona just signed into law a bill that requires online dating companies to inform their users when they have communicated with potential scammers, according to a report from Fox 10 News.

The bill HB2396 was sponsored by Republican lawmaker Regina Cobb of Kingman, Arizona, and requires dating services to inform its members if someone they had been in contact with was banned for a suspected scam, in an effort to reduce abusive and criminal activity on dating apps. These companies were previously prohibited from doing so.

The law requires the notice to be sent my mail or email, and according to Fox News 10 in Phoenix, it also provides immunity for dating app companies to prevent them from being sued.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble has released a new safety guide for online daters in India to address safety issues and the rise of cyber bullying, which are rampant on online platforms.

The guide is part of a new initiative called “Stand for Safety” according to The Hindustan Times. The move is in partnership with Safecity, which helps women across the country to identify, prevent and combat abuse on online platforms. 

Bumble conducted a survey among its users in India and found that 83 percent of women experience online harassment of some kind, and one-third of women experience it at least weekly. Almost 70 percent feel that cyberbullying has also increased since the pandemic took hold and lockdowns began. These numbers alarmed company executives, whose mission it is to improve safety for women on its platforms, so they decided to take action by publishing the guide. 

Image: FTC

The Federal Trade Commission found that more online dating scams happened in 2020 than ever before, thanks to people flocking to dating apps in the wake of the pandemic. 

The FTC released a new report in February citing the disturbing news, noting that dating app scams are the most lucrative for criminals because they provide an easy way to access and manipulate targets. Scammers are able to create an emotional connection with their victims when they target them on dating apps, and are better able to keep extracting money. The total amount of stolen funds on dating apps in 2020 was estimated to be $304 million, or about $2,500 per victim. This was double the amount stolen from dating app users in 2019, according to Insider.

A new investment scam targeting dating app users has been detected by Interpol, according to ZDNet.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a “purple notice” to 194 member countries, describing a new money-making scheme on dating apps, according to ZDNet. Interpol stated that the scam “takes advantage of people’s vulnerabilities as they look for potential matches, and lures them into sophisticated fraud scheme.”

The scammers have set up fake profiles in apps like Tinder, Bumble, and eHarmony, and match with users who don’t know they are scammers. The scammers then message their targets pretending to be interested in them romantically in order to build trust, occasionally giving them investment “tips” to turn the conversation towards money.

A new report revealed that dating app scams in the UK had significantly increased during the summer as the coronavirus spread and lockdowns continued, and as more people turned to the apps for connection.

More than 600 reports of fraud a month were reported during June, July and August according to Sky News. In addition, there was a 26 percent increase in reported frauds overall during the past year. Since August of 2019, UK police have seen about 400 reports of fraud per month on average, with victims losing over 66 million pounds total over the past year.