{"id":179,"date":"2024-03-06T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T14:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/?p=179"},"modified":"2025-09-04T19:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T19:27:24","slug":"washington-post-a-surge-of-scams-fake-ai-generated-profiles-and-harassment-making-dating-apps-increasingly-unfriendly-to-users-4-in-10-users-have-encountered-a-scam-on-a-dating-app-2-in-10-have-fa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/washington-post-a-surge-of-scams-fake-ai-generated-profiles-and-harassment-making-dating-apps-increasingly-unfriendly-to-users-4-in-10-users-have-encountered-a-scam-on-a-dating-app-2-in-10-have-fa\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post: A surge of scams, fake AI-generated profiles and harassment making dating apps increasingly unfriendly to users. 4 in 10 users have encountered a scam on a dating app, 2 in 10 have fallen for one, according to Kaspersky"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the Washington Post | By Tatum Hunter<\/a> March 6, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dating apps have gotten so bad that speed dating is in again<\/strong>
Drowning in dating app fatigue, singles are reviving the analog practice of showing up and talking to strangers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Seven men and six women sit scattered around a tiny Irish pub in a sleepy San Francisco neighborhood on a Wednesday night. A woman with a sleek ponytail and jade blouse posts up at the bar. A man in a blazer tucks into a high-top table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s John Tierney, 30, sporting a bleached mullet, patchwork cardigan and unwavering self-confidence. This is his first attempt at speed dating, he said, and he\u2019s loving the novelty of meeting single women in real life, rather than swiping on a dating app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come off better in person,\u201d Tierney said. \u201cI just try to match people\u2019s energy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speed dating isn\u2019t new. But like flared jeans and silver jewelry, trends from the early 2000s are circling back around. Participants say the resurgence of speed dating is a direct response to frustration with dating apps, which take more work and yield fewer matches than they used to. Speed dating comes with its own challenges \u2014 like talking to strangers \u2014 but for people craving more in-person connection, the risk is worth it. Participants said seems like a \u201cnice break\u201d from the \u201cdiscouraging\u201d process of app dating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A surge of scams, fake AI-generated profiles<\/a> and harassment<\/a> is making dating apps increasingly unfriendly to users. About four in 10 North American users have encountered a scam on a dating app, while about two in 10 have fallen for one, according to estimates from cybersecurity company Kaspersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last month a class-action lawsuit against Match Group<\/a> \u2014 which owns dating apps Tinder, Hinge and the League \u2014 claimed the company chases profits at the expense of daters, deliberately keeping users swiping rather than helping them find romance. Plaintiffs alleged the company has built addictive features, compelling them to pay for upgrades. Combined with opaque matching algorithms, these features prevent users from reaching their relationship goals, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match called the lawsuit ridiculous and said its products are designed to get people off the apps and on real-life dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lots of people treat dating apps like mobile games rather than pathways to actual meetups, said Anwar White, a Montreal-based dating coach. From last year to this year, the number of dates his clients set up from dating apps has dropped sharply. So he\u2019s trying a different tack. Clients are hungry for more in-person interaction<\/a>. During the height of the pandemic, some replaced hangouts with social-media scrolling<\/a>, and now they\u2019re wondering how to get back out there. Many go to speed-dating events and come home with new friends, he said, even if there isn\u2019t a love connection. \u201cI genuinely had fun,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a funny story to tell anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Washington Post | By Tatum Hunter March 6, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST Dating apps have gotten so bad that speed dating is in againDrowning in dating app fatigue, singles are reviving the analog practice of showing up and talking to strangers SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Seven men and six women sit scattered around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,23,24,11,22],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-ai","tag-dating-scams","tag-fake-profiles","tag-speed-dating","tag-washington-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pre-dating.com\/singles-magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}