Desperately seeking decency.
Under a new US law, online dating platforms must now alert users if someone they have interacted with is banned for fraud.
The Senate passed the bipartisan Romance Scam Prevention Act unanimously last month, and President Trump signed it into law on Tuesday.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as lonely folks sought companionship on dating sites, romance scams ran rampant and the dubious continue to target the hopeful at alarming rates.
Last year, more than 49,000 Americans reported losing a collective $1.3 billion to romance scams, according to available FTC data shared with The Associated Press.
That’s at least a 14% increase, and likely more from the previous year.
A recent survey also found that one in four Americans reported interacting with a fake profile or AI bot, while 15% reported losing money to an online dating or romance scam. And 21% of men and 10% of women surveyed reported losing money to an online romance scam.
Last year, a serial romance scammer was busted for allegedly stealing nearly $300,000 from a “girlfriend” he met on the dating app Bumble.
While some platforms already remove fraudulent profiles, victims often continue conversing with scammers off-app, unaware the account was banned. The Romance Scam Prevention Act addresses this issue by requiring dating platforms to alert anyone who has communicated with a banned scammer or a fraudulent account.
Rep. David Valadao introduced the bill, sharing that he was inspired to draft the legislation after hearing heartbreaking accounts from California residents who had fallen prey to online grifters.
“Millions of Americans use online dating sites to meet significant others, making them the perfect hunting ground for scammers and bad actors to target unsuspecting victims and exploit them for money,” Valadao told ICIJ.
“This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is a commonsense step toward enhancing online safety and combating financial fraud.”
Under the new legislation, online platforms must alert anyone who received a message from a banned profile within 24 hours of banning the account.
The warning must identify the fraudulent account, cite the date of the most recent exchange, and caution that the person may have used a fake identity to scam members. It must also advise against transferring money or financial data and provide fraud-prevention tools and customer support details.
The law will go into effect next year and will be enforced jointly by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
The Romance Scam Prevention Act is the latest protective measure against fraudulent lovers and bad actor bots.
Since January 2025, Seeking.com has required its users to submit live selfies to verify whether they’re authentic. As a result, 53,000 scammers have been blocked before they had a chance to message anyone, a 90.3% reduction in imposters.
Last month, a platform called Stud or Dud was launched by public-records company PeopleFinders; the website lets interested parties do a simple, free background check on their wannabe Romeos — including address history, bankruptcies, and other publicly available records.
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