In an era where digital connections often pave the way to romance, dating apps have become a cornerstone of modern relationships. However, as their popularity grows, so do the risks associated with them. One of them is the rise of deepfakes on dating apps.

In the last five years, an estimated £410m was lost to romance scams. So this Valentine’s Day, Sumsub is alerting people against the dangers of AI-generated deepfakes on dating platforms. The results should be a warning to regulators, dating app users, and the online dating industry if they want to stop the user exodus from continuing, as the 10 most popular apps lost nearly 16% of their users in 2024.

AI content is a turn-off

As Valentine’s Day approaches, Sumsub’s research reveals growing concerns among singletons about the rise of AI-generated content on dating apps impacting their chances of finding love.

• 64% said that deepfakes on dating apps make it harder to date successfully
• 37% want all artificial or edited content banned on these apps
• 43% said they’d use these apps less if AI content, such as deepfakes, were prevalent, while 11% would stop using these apps altogether.

Deepfakes are more convincing than people think

The data shows that people are overconfident in their ability to spot deepfakes, making it more likely that people will fall foul to scams, fraud, or other malicious intentions from people with fake profiles.

• 79% of people that had been deceived by a deepfake said they were confident in their ability to spot them.
• Despite misconceptions, younger people are more commonly misled by AI content, with 22% of those aged 25 to 34, 17% of those aged 45 to 54, and 16% aged 55 or above admitting to being misled.

Deepfakes are about more than just awkward encounters

Although 58% of dating app users agree that artificial content increases the risk of being ‘catfished’, it also risks far more than just awkward encounters. As shown by recent high-profile deepfake romance scams, such as when a French woman lost €830,000 to a deepfaked Brad Pitt.

• 54% fear that deepfakes increase the risk of being scammed
• Two in five people (39%) would consider ‘deepfaking’ someone to make money
• 46% are concerned they increase the risk of violence, such as sexual abuse or other sorts of physical harm, while almost half, 49%, think they increase the chance of people being mentally and emotionally harmed.

Dating: the industry most at risk from ID fraud

Internal platform data from Sumsub’s 2024 Identity Fraud Report, which analyses businesses and users across all industries, found that ID fraud—when people falsify documents, pictures, or whole identities to bypass online verification measures—was highest across the dating industry than all others – by 8.9% in 2024.  This is followed by online media at 7.7%; and traditional finance at 2.7%.

According to the new survey, when asked which measures dating apps should adopt to protect people from deepfakes:

• Over a third (34%) would be willing to have their conversations actively monitored to prevent suspicious activity
• 40% would support a cross-platform database of repeat deepfake users, resulting in restrictions or bans across all dating apps
• 46% agree that users should re-verify their identity regularly to prove legitimacy
• 44% support a more thorough verification process upon signing up – such as a video ‘liveness’ check and picture verification
• 78% agreed that they should be held responsible for the scams and malicious content on their platforms.

Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Head of AI & ML at Sumsub, comments:

“Without meaningful action, deepfakes and synthetic content generated by AI represents a threat to the users of all digital services. Online dating is particularly at risk – as shown by the level of ID fraud it faces – more than all other sectors, even compared to finance or online media. Malicious actors can bypass the often-unsophisticated verification measures these apps have, sign up with fake information and images, and deceive people – often to scam for monetary gain or worse.

“This campaign underlines the importance of educating users around the dangers of deepfakes and romantic scams, but this must be accompanied by more effective verification solutions, so these apps can better limit the influence of AI content. Failing to keep up with fraudsters will only put users at risk of financial, physical and emotional harm – while also damaging the businesses themselves as the user exodus continues from 2025.”

About Sumsub deepfakes on dating apps

Sumsub is a full-cycle verification platform that secures the whole user journey. With Sumsub’s customizable KYC, KYB, Transaction Monitoring, and Fraud Prevention solutions, you can orchestrate your verification process, welcome more customers worldwide, meet compliance requirements, reduce costs, and protect your business.

Sumsub has over 2,500 clients across the fintech, crypto, transportation, trading, e-commerce, and gaming industries, including Bitpanda, Wirex, Avis, Bybit, Huobi, Kaizen Gaming, and TransferGo.