The Anti-virus Times

czwartek, 5 marca 2026

Billions in revenue and multi-million audiences. Despite a notable decline and priority shifts, the online dating industry is still one of the most popular ways of looking for a partner in our complex and ever-changing world. Is there a way to find a perfect match and not become a victim of an un-scrupulous middleman? Let’s establish basic safety rules for online dating.

How can dating sites be dangerous?
Experts talk a lot about the way socialising online affects our mental health: about the worry and pro-found sense of abandonment you feel when the person you’ve been talking to ghosts you; the con-stant pressure to look your best; the anxiety you experience looking over other profiles and comparing them to yours; and the fear of making a mistake upon first contact…

Psychology aside, online dating is also rife with other hazards, including romance and finance fraud.

“The prince isn’t really as charming as they say”

Beware of fake profiles!
Catfishing (or catphishing) is a special type of fraud that relies on making a lure particularly attractive. This phishing type involves attackers using photos of complete strangers to construct fake identities that appear attractive and trustworthy on social media. A profile containing only well-staged and edit-ed photos, without any spontaneous shots, should arouse suspicion.

Is there a way to expose identity fraud? If your online acquaintance persistently refuses to communi-cate over video calls, keeps finding excuses to avoid dating IRL, or hastily professes their love for you, you should raise your guard. And nowadays, with the advent of AI, the complete opposite is happening—a charming stranger keeps calling you and flooding your inbox with video messages; this should appear equally suspicious to you. It is deepfakes—AI-generated, seemingly realistic images and videos—that become increasingly common in fraud schemes of this kind.

We recommend paying attention to how soon your new online contact starts sharing their extremely personal or dramatic life experiences with you. Repeated requests for intimate photos with the promise to reciprocate are yet another alarming sign.

And it’s even more true for requests for money, even if minute amounts are involved. A dubious pro-file usually has few friends; the contact often responds in a strange way and reveals a biography that is too perfect to be true.

Taking foolish risks will almost certainly get you into trouble

Don't take any chances and enable two-factor authentication to protect your account. We’ve already discussed this security measure on multiple occasions. It greatly enhances the protection of personal data.

Protecting sensitive data and privacy is of utmost importance for dating apps. It is also worth remem-bering online security basics and keeping banking details and identity documents confidential at all times.

Also avoid revealing your home and business addresses and your work schedule. Attackers can take advantage of this information to target your real-life acquaintances.

Keep links to your social media accounts private, as they can tell people a lot about your family and friends. And exercise caution when you choose what photos to upload: pick ones without tell-tale signs such as your car’s license plate or the facade of your house.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts

Malicious links are one of the most common hazards associated with online dating and communicating with a potential significant other. Just get lulled by sweet talk and lower your guard for a moment, and you’ll end up receiving (or downloading) malware in the guise of an intimate photo.

Nor should you allow your online acquaintances to coax you into leaving the safety of the dating plat-form as soon as possible in favour of private messaging elsewhere. If you do so, you risk winding up alone in the company of a dubious would-be spouse, with all of the adverse consequences that may come with that and no option to contact the dating service's support as your last line of defence.

Don't take things on faith

Sometimes the desire to find a better half is so great that people easily get sidetracked from their in-tended course of action. Dating sites and chat rooms have been cynically weaponised by scammers seeking to abuse people’s trust. Attackers pick their victim on a site and then move their conversation to a messenger and cunningly gain their target's trust.

As the victim gets involved and emotionally invested in time-proven tales of dire life circumstances, they lose their sense of danger. They are served with heart-wrenching stories about relatives getting into a car accident or the desperate need for a humble sum to pay for an order or a food delivery—just this once…

And then the trap slams shut! An attacker will share “private information” about a Telegram invest-ment bot only a select few know about. Allegedly powered by a “unique” algorithm, it has helped the impostor pay off their debts and even make a profit on more than one occasion. The target will only need to register, create an electronic wallet and provide their bank account details. Naturally, as soon as the victim chooses to help or use the secret bot to make money, their funds evaporate.

Getting coaxed by a charming crook into partaking in unlawful activity is yet another unhappy out-come. Publications in the media are littered with examples of how gullible, law-abiding citizens were taken advantage of. Agreeing mindlessly to act as a courier or to make some extra money by having a certain amount (usually, obtained by illegal means) transferred to your account, before passing it on to another party for a fee, can make you an unwitting accomplice.