How to safely use dating apps

OF COURSE, like all the aspects of our lives lived online, online dating comes with a risk. A famous case of an online dating disaster involves Simon Leviev, a psuedonym used by Shimon Hayut, recorded in the 2022 documentary The Tinder Swindler. There, it details how Mr. Leviev defrauded a number of women financially after meeting them on Tinder to fund an expensive lifestyle that he would then use in turn to lure even more women.

“Tinder has significantly invested in Trust & Safety (T&S) product development over the last few years and has brought our total T&S feature suite to 20 innovations. Most recently, we released new advancements to user warnings to boost in-app good behavior, cover areas of authenticity, respect, and inclusivity, which aim to provide additional guidance to users and inform them of inappropriate behavior, offering them an immediate opportunity to change their actions moving forward,” said Papri Dev, VP APAC Communications for Tinder

“We’ve also introduced developments to our ‘Does This Bother You?’ and ‘Are You Sure?’ features (widening the categorization of hate speech, sexual exploitation, and harassment), given our members more control in-app with the launch of ‘Incognito Mode’ and ‘Block Profile,’ as well as made upgrades to member reporting. We also upgraded our Photo Verification process by asking members to take a selfie video, a better way for them to prove who they are,” said Ms. Dev.

Ms. Dev also gave a list of things one shouldn’t do on Tinder to ensure safety:

Never send money or share financial information, even if the person claims to be in an emergency.

Never share personal information, such as your social security number, home or work address, or details about your daily routine (e.g., that you go to a certain gym every Monday) with people you don’t know.

Keep conversations on the Tinder platform while you’re getting to know someone. Because exchanges on Tinder are subject to our Safe Message Filters, users with bad intentions often try to move the conversation to text, messaging apps, e-mail, or phone right away.

Be wary of long distance and overseas relationships. Watch out for scammers who claim to be from your country but stuck somewhere else, especially if they ask for financial help to return home.

Be wary of anyone who will not meet in person or talk on a phone/ video call — they may not be who they say they are.

Report all suspicious and offensive behavior. You know when someone’s crossed the line and when they do, we want to know about it. Block and report anyone that violates our terms.

For Bumble’s part, Lucille McCart, APAC Communications Director of Bumble, says, “At Bumble safety is our number one priority, and it is of critical importance to us to make sure that we are creating a safe, trustworthy environment where people can make respectful and kind connections. As such we have developed a suite of safety tools, features and policies that help make Bumble a place where people want to date, including: Photo Verification — this uses AI technology to ensure that people are who they say they are; Private Detector — again, an AI powered tool that automatically detects and blurs unsolicited lewd images shared through the app; Block and Report — a robust tool that allows members to report bad behavior whenever and wherever they see it so that our Member Safety team can take action.

“We have also recently introduced policies to address body shaming, cyberflashing and, most recently, updated the Community Guidelines to prohibit any attempts to artificially influence connections, matching, conversations, or engagement through the use of automation or scripting,” she said.

Ms. McCart said that Bumble took the latest steps to tackle scams, spam and fake profiles, with the introduction of the Deception Detector, which was officially launched on Safer Internet Day on Feb. 6. “This latest feature uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assess the authenticity of profiles and connections, so singles can spend less time playing detective and more time focused on meaningful connections. Bumble saw reports of spam, scam, and fake accounts reduced by 45%, and of those accounts identified as spam/scam profiles, Bumble, Inc.’s testing showed that Deception Detector™ supported in blocking 95% of these accounts automatically. This automated and AI-based technology is used in conjunction with dedicated human support to prioritize a safe and empowering community,” she said. —