A dark undercurrent is also making its presence known on dating apps this Valentine’s Day. Sequence Security has released new research that reveals increased fraudulent activity on these platforms as fraudsters pose as potential romantic partners to exploit and manipulate users for financial gain.
The study, conducted by Cequence’s CQ Prime Threat Research Team, used anonymized traffic and attack data from 2023 across a number of its customers in the dating and media sectors across all geographies. The team has been successful in identifying and categorizing active threats, and the resulting threat intelligence will serve as a core component of Sequence products that aim to protect customers’ businesses through mitigation and blocking.
The report’s key findings shed light on the scale of the problem. According to the analysis, 58% of all detected bot activity in 2023 came from the US, a significant increase from 48% in 2021. Alarmingly, 28% of transactions spoofed the iPhone app. During 2023, more than 660 million bot requests were detected on popular dating apps, causing more than 12 million unique accounts to be protected from account takeovers.
Commenting on the findings, William Glazier, director of threat research at Sequence, said: “Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day, but so are scammers targeting lonely hearts on dating apps and looking for ways to extort money. Thanks to advances in AI, bad actors now rely on automation to scale their operations and are increasingly using APIs to obtain the accounts they need to continue their fraud.”
Victims of the most common types of fraud, according to the FTC, suffered a significant financial loss of $1.3 billion in 2022 alone. Bots are particularly helpful for fraudsters as they provide them with the means to scale their operations. By effectively using automation, fraudsters significantly increase the probability of successful manipulations.
To combat this problem, Glazier advises, “Dating sites and apps must find a perfect, long-term fit to help protect their users from automated attacks. These organizations must adopt a holistic security strategy that safeguards their APIs at every stage of the lifecycle.” This entails considering API security and bot management as interconnected challenges, not separate problems to be tackled by isolated teams. This combined approach includes identifying and registering all APIs, ensuring strict adherence to industry standards, and deploying advanced threat detection and mitigation tools to defend against attacks.”
The escalating issue of bot-driven scams on dating apps is a significant concern, and everyone involved needs to remain vigilant to protect themselves and others from potential harm. Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the warning from Sequence research is clear: dating app users should exercise extreme caution when interacting online and be aware of the potential risks that may accompany their search for romance.
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