If you’ve spent any time on a dating app, you’ve probably matched with someone who turned out to be a bot — or worse, a scammer running a catfishing scheme. You’re not imagining it. Fake profiles are one of the most widespread and least-discussed problems in the dating industry.

The FTC reported that romance scams cost Americans over $1.3 billion in 2022 — with dating apps as the primary vector. And despite years of promises from major platforms, the problem keeps getting worse.

This post breaks down why fake profiles exist on dating apps, which platforms are worst offenders, and how Gettit was designed from the ground up to eliminate them.

Why Dating Apps Are Incentivized to Allow Fake Profiles

Before blaming the apps individually, it’s worth understanding the structural incentives that make fake profiles a feature — not a bug — for most platforms.

1. Weak or Nonexistent Verification

Most dating apps let anyone create an account with just an email address or phone number. Neither confirms you’re a real person. A single bad actor can spin up hundreds of fake profiles in minutes.

Even photo verification — where you take a selfie matching a pose — is trivially fooled by AI-generated deepfakes. Apps that launched verification as a safety feature in 2018 are now facing the exact same attack vectors with far more sophisticated tools.

2. Engagement Algorithms Reward Volume

Dating apps are built on an engagement loop: more swipes, more matches, more time in the app. Fake profiles drive this loop. They swipe aggressively, match freely, and generate the dopamine hit that keeps real users coming back.

Removing fake profiles would reduce apparent match rates — and with them, the sense that the app is “working.” For publicly traded companies optimizing quarterly metrics, that’s a real trade-off.

3. Reactive Moderation Doesn’t Scale

Virtually every major dating platform relies on user reports to identify and remove fake profiles. This is reactive by design — a fake profile causes harm before it’s ever removed.

The math doesn’t work: a platform with 50 million users and a 2% fake profile rate has 1 million fake accounts. A moderation team of 500 people reviewing reports can’t meaningfully dent that number.

Platform Breakdown: Where Fake Profiles Are Worst

Tinder

Tinder is the world’s largest dating app — and a magnet for fake profiles. With over 75 million monthly active users and minimal account verification, it’s the path of least resistance for bot operators and romance scammers.

Tinder introduced photo verification in 2020, but it remains opt-in and does nothing to verify identity. A verified photo just means the photo matches the selfie — not that the person is who they claim to be.

Bumble

Bumble markets itself heavily on safety. Its photo verification is more thorough than Tinder’s, and it has a dedicated trust and safety team. Even so, Bumble’s verification is still opt-in, and the platform suffers from the same structural problem: anyone can create an account without proving they’re a real person.

Bumble’s “women message first” mechanic reduces some categories of spam, but bots have adapted — some even simulate the opening message.

Hinge

Hinge positions itself as “designed to be deleted” — a relationship-focused app with a more curated profile format. Its longer-form profiles make low-effort fake accounts slightly harder to set up, but sophisticated actors have no problem generating convincing personas.

Hinge requires a Facebook account for signup (or a phone number), which adds a small friction barrier. But Facebook accounts are themselves frequently fake, and phone numbers are trivially obtained in bulk.

Grindr

Grindr has faced persistent and well-documented problems with fake profiles, scams, and location spoofing. The platform’s near-total lack of mandatory verification, combined with its real-time location features, makes it especially vulnerable.

Grindr has faced significant scrutiny over its privacy practices and has historically been slow to implement safety features that other platforms offer.

Scruff

Scruff serves a similar demographic to Grindr and faces similar structural problems. Like most apps, it relies primarily on user reports and reactive moderation.

The CSAE Problem: Why This Isn’t Just About Scammers

Fake profiles aren’t just used for romance scams. They’re also a vector for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the grooming of minors. Platforms that fail to verify user age and identity expose their communities — and the broader internet — to serious harm.

This is why we built our CSAE Policy with proactive detection at its core, not reactive moderation. It’s also why verification isn’t optional on Gettit.

How Gettit Solves the Fake Profile Problem

Building Gettit meant starting from scratch on verification — not bolting safety features onto an existing engagement-first architecture.

Real Identity Verification — Not Just Photo Matching

Gettit requires real identity verification before a profile goes live. We integrate with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to cross-reference against known offender databases, and use identity verification to confirm users are who they claim to be and are of legal age.

This isn’t a selfie check. It’s real verification.

AI-Powered Proactive Moderation

We use Azure Content Safety to scan profile content, photos, and messages in real time — before they reach other users. Instead of waiting for reports, we catch harmful content at the point of creation.

This shifts moderation from reactive to proactive: the goal is to prevent harm, not document it after the fact.

A Business Model That Doesn’t Need Fake Profiles

Most dating apps are free with paid upgrades — and they need high engagement to sell ads or convert free users to paid. Fake profiles serve that model.

Gettit’s subscription model starts at $0.99/month, with Gettit Plus at $9.99/month for advanced features. We don’t run ads. We don’t need fake profiles to inflate match rates. Our business succeeds when real people find real connections — full stop.

Real-Time Matching Grid

Instead of the swipe-and-wait mechanic that creates space for bots to operate, Gettit’s real-time grid shows you verified users near you right now. There’s no asymmetric swiping game for bots to exploit.

Feature Comparison: Gettit vs. Major Dating Apps

Feature	Gettit	Tinder	Bumble	Hinge	Grindr
Mandatory ID verification	Yes	No	No	No	No
Proactive AI moderation	Yes	No	Partial	No	No
NCMEC integration	Yes	No	No	No	No
Age verification	Yes	No	No	No	No
Free tier with full features	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ad-free experience	Yes	No	No	No	No
Real-time matching grid	Yes	No	No	No	Partial

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Gettit ever have fake profiles?

No platform can guarantee zero fake profiles — but Gettit’s mandatory verification and proactive AI moderation make it orders of magnitude harder to create one. We verify identity before profiles go live, not after reports come in.

What happens if I encounter a suspicious account?

Report it in-app. Our moderation team reviews reports in real time and removes accounts that violate our policies. If an account is removed after you matched with them, you’ll be notified.

Is my ID stored after verification?

No. We use a third-party verification provider that processes your document and returns a verified/not-verified result. We do not store copies of your personal documents.

Does Gettit work for everyone — not just straight users?

Yes. Gettit is built for everyone — every orientation, identity, and relationship preference. No labels, no limits.

The Bottom Line

Fake profiles aren’t an accident. They’re the predictable result of business models that reward engagement over authenticity, verification systems that are optional by design, and moderation that responds to harm rather than preventing it.

Gettit was built to break that model. Mandatory verification, proactive AI safety, and a subscription-based business that wins only when real people make real connections.

Ready to try it? Sign Up Now and get 6 months of Gettit Plus free.

Why Dating Apps Are Full of Fake Profiles — And What We're Doing About It