The Tinder Swindler: Cyber Security Experts On Protecting Yourself on Dating Apps

Netflix’s new hit documentary, The Tinder Swindler, has been met with increasing popularity – already reaching number 1 across a multitude of countries. Whilst, Google Trends shows that searches for the ‘Tinder Swindler’ increased by more than 250% since February 2nd (in just 3 days!). The documentary depicts the whirlwind that surrounds a con artist who successfully cons several women out of hundreds of millions of dollars through the dating app Tinder.

With Tinder being the most popular global dating app, it is likely that many of us will be swiping right throughout February, and as a result – OnBuy Tablets sought to discover 5 key ways in which we can all stay safe and protect ourselves from Tinder Swindlers and dating app crooks this Valentines.

How to protect yourself on dating apps, this Valentines:

Know the signs of a romance scammer

In the Tinder Swindler, Leviev had the tell-tale signs of a romance scammer before swindling his victims out of hundreds of millions.

Romance scammers often use what is known as “love bombing” tactics, in which they flood the victim with affection, gifts and grand declarations of love early in the relationship. Typically, the scammer will try and move the relationship forward unusually fast – such as asking you to move in together after only a short period of knowing one another – as seen by Leviev. Love bombing may make the victim feel close to the scammer, building a sense of trust, whilst leaving you vulnerable to financial fraud in the future in the relationship.

Don’t share personal details

The Tinder Swindler was able to con his victims by asking them to take out large loans and credit cards in their name for him to use. As a result, when caught, he was able to say that he was simply borrowing the money from his victims. OnBuy Tablets recommend never taking out credit cards or loans for another person, as not only do they tend to have high interest rates, but it requires a huge amount of trust to ensure that this person will pay the money back – and if they’re a scammer, they won’t, leaving you in debt and negatively impacting your credit score for the future.

Be wary of fear-based tactics

Romance scammers often pretend that they are in a state of harm to coerce their victims into sending them money to help them. This can present in a number of ways, such as: pretending to have suddenly been evicted and made homeless, pretending that they have been burgled or robbed, pretending that they are being threatened by “enemies” and a number of other scenarios in which the scammer will use fear for coercion. For any scenario, the scammer will pretend that their bank has blocked their account and that they are unable to access their own money – so be wary of anyone on dating apps who tries to use fear and coercion to make you send them money. OnBuy Tablets suggest always telling the scammer to contact the police, as this is what they would do if they were truly at harm.

Don’t be drawn in by lavish gifts and expensive dates

Some con artists, including the Tinder Swindler, use lavish gifts and expensive dates to convince their victim that they have a high income and, therefore, would not need to scam anyone. This creates a false sense of trust between the scammer and the victim, as despite taking tens of thousands from the victim, the victim believes that the scammer has more than enough money to pay it back and will do so when they can – which is false. Often, such as in the case of Leviev, the money used to fund this lifestyle is from the scams that they have undertaken previously. Whilst a luxurious way of living may be tempting to us all, be cautious when a potential romantic interest begins to shower you with money, and never give away any of your own.

Report a scammer

Despite trying to protect yourself as much as possible, fraudsters are becoming increasingly manipulative and use new social tools, such as dating apps, to target their victims.

If this happens and you have been scammed for money by someone that you have met online, inform the website or dating app and report them immediately. Every dating app has a reporting function, such as Tinder, which can be accessed by going to the profile of the scammer and tapping ‘Report’. OnBuy Tablets suggest also contacting the police, keeping all evidence of your online communication with the scammer and reporting it to Action Fraud.