Match CEO breaks silence on ‘romance fraud’ that scams victims out of $1 billion a year and admits ‘stuff happens in life’

The CEO of the world’s biggest online dating company has admitted that sick predators use apps to steal lonely people’s savings.

While Match Group executive Bernard Kim empathizes with fraud victims, he said “things happen in life.”

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By 2023, more than a billion dollars had been stolen from innocent people looking for love, and many of the perpetrators were based outside the US.

Scammers often “catch” users when they impersonate someone else before emotionally manipulating them into divulging personal information that can be used to hack bank accounts.

With a portfolio of sites like Match.com, Hinge and Tinder, Kim knows all too well about scams and said her heart goes out to victims, CBS News reported.

However, when asked about the problem, he said, “I mean, things happen in life.”

“This is really difficult,” he told CBS News.

“I have enormous empathy for the things that happen, but I mean, our job is to keep people safe on our platforms.

“That’s the most important thing and the most important thing for us.”

Kim admitted that there has been an increase in scams and said that Match’s security experts work hard to block 96% of fraudulent accounts in one day.

According to US authorities, tens of thousands of people in the country have fallen victim to romance fraud and many are too embarrassed to tell anyone about it.

No group appears to be safe from the schemes and 40% of victims are men, according to James C. Barnacle Jr., chief of the FBI’s financial crimes section.

“We see that from 2017 to 2023 is when we had a sharp increase in romance fraud,” he said, noting that the increase correlates with the growing popularity of dating apps.

Kim said Match spends $125 million a year fighting fraud after the Federal Trade Commission sued the company in 2019.

An analysis conducted by the commission showed that 25 to 30% of profiles on Match sites were opened to commit fraud, according to the lawsuit.

Match denied any wrongdoing, and a U.S. district judge later ruled that the company was not responsible for content posted by its parties on its sites.

Cyber ​​Expert Advice on How to Spot a Romance Scam

A cyber expert with knowledge of romance scams spoke to The US Sun and warned users of warning signs to watch out for. Roger Grimes, defense evangelist at cyber firm KnowBe4, listed eight key questions you should ask yourself:

• Is the person trying to get you off the dating site and onto an unmonitored app?
• Are they asking too many questions before revealing information about themselves? This could be an attempt to establish common ground and build trust.
• Are they avoiding phone calls and video chats and making excuses?
• Do they say they travel a lot or are not in the same country? This is often a profitable part of the scam as they need money.
• Have you ever said that you are going to travel on a certain day and something unexpected happens, so you need money to get there?
• Do they ask for deep, dark secrets or incriminating or nude photos? This could be used for blackmail later on.
• Have they said they were scammed before? Sometimes this is a strategy to build trust and convince you that they are not scammers.
• Do they have a sob story? Like if your spouse died suddenly or left unjustly? Or are they left with kids or huge bills to pay?

Read more here.

LOVE GAME

Cybersecurity experts have given important signs that the person you meet online could be a scammer.

According to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, fraudsters will be the first to reach out after connecting with someone online.

Bad actors will then gain the victim’s trust by becoming captivating through flirting or solicitation.

To check if the person behind the screen is legitimate, experts recommend doing a reverse image search with their photos.

If the search shows several other accounts with different names, this could be a sign that you are being scammed.

Any request for money is also an important sign that the person is not just interested in love.

“Scammers may propose marriage and make plans to meet in person, but this will never happen. Eventually, they will ask for money,” the FBI said in a statement.