Hosting scams on your platform is bad for business, which is why on Tuesday a group of major tech companies, including Match Group, Meta, Coinbase and others, are launching a new coalition to tackle online dating app fraud , social media and crypto .
The new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to counter the tools scammers use and better educate the public against financial scams.
Even before series like “The Tinder Swindler,” romance scams were costing users significant sums. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, this type of fraud cost its victims more money than any other type of consumer fraud as of 2019. Social media fraud is also an issue: US consumers lost $770 million to scams on social media in 2021, up 18 times from 2017. Last year, the FTC also reported that investment scams led to consumer losses more than $3.8 billionor more than double the amount lost in 2021.
And then, of course, there’s crypto, an industry so riddled with fraud that company founders and other industry notables will be jailed for fraud and illegality, money laundering, hacking, and more. ONE the whole blog it was released simply to monitor the latest consequences in this space, in fact.
While this fraud takes place on the platforms, as opposed to being perpetrated by the platforms themselves (well… outside of crypto), running rampant can give tech companies a bad name. Additionally, many of the scams cover platforms, such as how a dating app scam can eventually lead a user to a crypto exchange, for example. This has led to increased demand for better data sharing between companies to combat the problem.
Joining Meta, Coinbase and Match (the parent company of Tinder, Hinge and others), are others in the crypto space such as Kraken, Ripple and Gemini. Together, the companies plan to work to protect their users from romance scams and other types of fraud, such as the crypto scam known as “pig butcher shop.” The latter is a long-term scam involving investment fraud, where the victim is tricked into making crypto investments. The scammer often targets users on social networking apps, making friends or building trust through communication before stealing their money.
With artificial intelligence, the difference between scams and real-life interactions also becomes harder to detect. As Yahoo Finance reported last year, the scammers are using artificial intelligence to create “convincing FaceTime calls, phone calls and emails” to their victims, where they may pose as loved ones, potential lovers, friends, or even IRS agents.
“Technology companies across all industries working together is essential to preventing criminal activity and ultimately helps online platforms stay ahead, develop effective solutions and tackle various types of financial crimes,” said Yoel Roth, Vice President Trust & Safety in Match Group. and formerly of Twitter. “As we aim to make it harder for fraudsters to defraud online users, we will also continue to invest in features to help prevent fraud and remove fraudsters from our platform before they do harm.”
Meta Security Director Guy Rosen added that the companies needed to join forces to fully address this problem. “The fraudsters and organized crime groups behind the pig slaughter schemes are targeting people across multiple online services, making it difficult for a company to see the full picture of malicious activity and count on each of us working in silos,” he noted.
To protect users from fraud on their respective platforms, the companies will share tips and information with each other. They will collaborate on ways to educate and protect consumers from the ever-evolving crop of financial scams in the marketplace. Coalition members will also continue to work with law enforcement authorities, when necessary, to support their investigations by sharing information about online fraud and crimes that have taken place on their platforms.
