US Report Says Outdated Tinder Models Let Scammers Thrive on Match Group Apps

Congressional investigation finds years of outdated scam detection

A report from the US Congress joint economic committee details how romance scams flourished on dating apps owned by Match Group, including Tinder, Hinge and Plenty of Fish. The investigation, led by Senators Maggie Hassan, a Democrat of New Hampshire, and Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee, found that as of the second half of 2025, Tinder had not updated most of its machine learning models in years. As a result, the report states, Tinder detected scammers and other bad actors less reliably and struggled to keep pace with emerging threats.

Data provided by Match Group showed that through the third quarter of 2025 in the US, nearly 1.5 million scammers or other bad actors on Tinder and Hinge had matched with at least one other user. Nearly 500,000 of those accounts exchanged contact information with another user. The senators noted that romance scams have become a leading form of financial fraud in the United States, costing Americans at least $1.3bn annually.

Victim describes 'vortex' of constant pressure

Mary, who asked that her last name be withheld, told the Guardian she met a man on Plenty of Fish in 2024 and lost almost $100,000 in cryptocurrency payments. She described constant contact, pressure and repeated requests for money that escalated quickly. "I call it like being in a vortex," she said. "You don't even realise what's happening." After she blocked his number, he switched phone numbers and contacted her again. She later found other Plenty of Fish profiles using the same photos and reported them to the platform.

Match Group points to new safety measures

The report noted that since the investigation launched in September, Match Group introduced facial verification on Tinder across the US, requiring all new users to complete a video selfie verification process, and a new AI model in the first half of 2025 to examine profiles and detect scammers. However, the report said those changes came after a prolonged period during which scams continued to proliferate on Tinder.

Yoel Roth, Match Group's senior vice-president of trust and safety, said the company made the largest safety advancements in its history and that the report mischaracterized the historical scale of its investment. Hassan said romance scams are devastating both financially and emotionally, and that more needs to be done. In June, she introduced legislation with Republican Senator Rick Scott that would establish a central portal for Americans to report scams and get help from law enforcement and agencies.

Sources: theguardian.com