Dating services employ any number of  anti-fraud solutions. Over the years I’ve seen registered devices (doesn’t work), geo-IP lookups and all sorts of home-brewed solutions.

Are You Human is a technology used to fight bots, which supposedly account for 2/3’s of most dating site traffic. Back in the day, Markus at POF told me that something like 75% (I think?) of their code base was focused on anti-fraud measures. That blew me away.

The humans at Are You Human say:

Instead of searching for bots, which evolve in a matter of days, “Are You Human” finds and verifies humans by analyzing natural user behavior across hundreds of thousands of websites. After they have consistently seen and verified a user as human, they’re added to the Whitelist™, and then re-verified over and over again each day. Bots can’t consistently look and act like real humans on every page, every day, so they’re never added to the list, and all that’s left are real humans.

“Are you Human” started in 2010, initially as a verification technology to replace the obnoxious twisted text known as CAPTCHA. Since then, we’ve evolved to analyze natural interaction in any environment, and now we analyze and re-verify hundreds of millions of humans every day in interactions across millions of websites.

More information.

Why Bots Like Dating Sites was written By David Evans
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I wonder if AARP talked to Match before they started a media campaign that attacks their own business partner?

According to the FBI, Americans lost $82 million to online dating fraud in just the last six months of 2014. 

The dating industry has left singles to fend for themselves since it’s inception. I don’t consider articles about brushing your teeth before a date and not leaving your credit card on the table after dinner to be especially useful, but then again I brush several times daily and don’t give money to strangers based on transparent sob stories.

The dating industry has had an enormous toolbox of safety measures to work with for a long time. They haven’t because many of the solutions introduce friction into the customer acquisition and retention process. That’s certainly a large part of there is so much online dating scamming going on.

In fact, there is no technology on the planet that can keep older folks and those with a propensity towards being clueless when it comes to self-preservation from letting themselves be scammed.

And now the AARP’s Fraud Watch Network has launched an online petition urging the online dating industry to institute new safeguards to better protect their users. The Association is inviting its members and the general public to become involved in the national campaign by signing the petition.

The Fraud Watch Network urges the online dating sites to implement include:

— Employ algorithms to detect suspicious language patterns used by
scammers.
— Search for fake profiles across multiple dating websites.
— Issue alerts to any member who has been in contact with someone using a
fraudulent profile.
— Educate members with tips on how to avoid romance scammers.

Can you imagine signing a petition and having the dating industry fall right in line, spending millions of dollars on anti-fraud services it should have implemented years ago? As I said about the AARP HowAboutWe deal, pigs certainly are able to fly given the right circumstances.

AARP Wants Dating Sites To Crack Down On Fraud was written By David Evans
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Global Dating Insights and Scamalytics have collaborated on a scammers and dating fraud report.

The report covers scammers and dating fraud and what the industry and third-parties can do to combat the threat they pose.

They look at the current frauds infecting mobile apps like Tinder, trends like sextortion, and how these scammers are adapting their methods to the new dating landscape, and cleverly circumventing security measures.

The report also seeks to show that stopping dating scammers is not only a huge positive for both the customer and the industry as the whole, but can also be good for business.

Download the report here (PDF).

Scamalytics Release Industry Report on Scammers and Dating Fraud | Scamalytics was written By David Evans
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An analysis conducted by IBM Security found over 60 percent of leading dating mobile apps on Android are potentially vulnerable to a variety of cyber-attacks that put personal user information and corporate data at risk.

The IBM study reveals that many of these dating applications have access to additional features on mobile devices such as the camera, microphone, storage, GPS location and mobile wallet billing information, which in combination with the vulnerabilities may make them exploitable to hackers. IBM also found that nearly 50 percent of organizations have at least one of these employee-installed popular dating apps on mobile devices used to access confidential business information.

The good news is that today’s mobile dating apps are so generic and basic, there’s not much personal information to steal. But in terms of corporate data, have fun hackers. #ismatchthenexttarget

More at IBM Security.

Unsecure Android Dating Apps Everywhere was written By David Evans
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What’s still the same…

•    The uncertainty that’s a constant companion when you’re meeting someone for the first time, especially when you’re being set up on a blind date.
•    The anticipation as date night gets closer, especially if you know the person and are hoping to take the relationship to the next level.
•    The doubts that plague you about the relationship status after you’ve gone on a few dates.

What’s changed…

•    You’re more mature now, having gone through adult life and its trials and tribulations and wiser for the same. You don’t tend to make the same mistakes you did when you were much younger and clueless about life.
•    You carry emotional baggage, from your past experiences and relationships. They may be good or bad or a mixed bag – they always affect the way you look at and approach your new relationships.
•    Your family may or may not approve, especially your children. It’s up to you to make them understand that you need your own life and get them to see your point of view; try not to antagonize them even as you pursue your own happiness.
•    The people you meet are also battle-scarred warriors who’ve been down roads similar to the ones you’ve travelled, so be prepared accordingly.
•    You may not meet people who’re the same age or one or two years younger or older than you. They may be either much younger or much older, so if you’re choosy, you may not find too many datable people out there.
•    There may not be any of the tender-footing and leading questions that open a traditional date in your 20s. Most people who date in their 40s take the practical, no-nonsense approach and are open about what they’re looking for in the relationship right from the word go.

Dating in your 40s and above may seem like an uphill task, especially when you’ve been off the scene for decades. But it’s like riding a bicycle – once you learn, you never forget. So get into the spirit of things with the right attitude, and watch life begin anew at 40.