The Most Reliable Parental Control App
FamiSafe lets parents control screen time, track real-time location and detect inappropriate content on kids' devices.
Even though Tinder scams have been hard to control, more than 6.44 million people still downloaded the app in 2021. What’s astonishing is approximately 50% of these users are between the age of 18 to 25 years. A considerable percentage of these teenagers are there to find their true love on Tinder. Still, to their disappointment, the one they are dating right now can be a scammer, not a natural person, but a robot.
While adults can handle these situations wisely, newbie daters are becoming constant victims of the Tinder scams. For parents, allowing kids to date strangers can be a hard choice already; it is needless to say that dating online can bring about lots of unexpected severe problems. To relieve parents’ concerns as much as possible, we will reveal the 5 most common Tinder Scams in this article and the corresponding tips on how parents can safeguard their kids against these frauds.
Top 5 Common Tinder Frauds
Catfishing Scam
Catfishing is one of the frauds that requires the maximum amount of deception. The scammer does not just need to put up a nice-looking profile but also needs to pretend to be emotionally involved with you. Often, these scammers use someone else's photo and even grab their educational and professional history to decorate their profile. In this way, they can hide their actual identity and attract more users.
There can be different motives behind catfishing; for instance, sometimes it is just for fun, other times they do it for money. But, catfishes can also prey on their victim’s emotions and have malicious motives, like luring users to share their personal, intimate images or videos, convincing them to harm themselves, etc.
How to recognize catfishing Scam?
One common way to recognize a catfish on Tinder is to do deep research on the profile. If it is someone who maintains a fake profile, then there will be several red flags to it like:
- The profile is too good to be true. The bio, photo, whereabouts, everything is fabricated, making it look appealing.
- Profiles are incomplete, there are a limited number of photos, or their profile goes back to a maximum of 4-5 years.
- Avoiding meeting is another warning sign to watch out for. Scammers can keep inventing excuses about too much work or a sudden emergency.
Manda Tinder Scam
One of the most common frauds you need to look out for is the Manda Tinder Scam. The scammer will send your teenagers the picture of a pretty girl or man pretending that it was themselves and make them fall for it with some enticing conversation. Once they have fallen for it, scammers would send more intimate images. However, when users try to click and open the image files, they will be taken to a registration form of some gimmicky scheme. One can either ignore the temptation or fall for it, giving up personal details, including payment information.
How to recognize Manda Tinder Scam?
The only way to avoid any such encounter is by verifying a profile before starting a conversation. Besides, first, try to indulge in some genuine conversation when you receive such a message. If they keep ignoring the conversation, that is the red flag. Even if your kids are okay with taking this conversation ahead, tell them not to share their personal information, especially credit card details.
Tinder Account Verification Scam
Another fraud you need to look out for is the Tinder account verification Scam. In this kind of fraud, one of your matches, which can be a bot or an actual person, will ask if your account has been verified or not. Teenagers may be willing to verify their account by clicking on the third-party link they sent and filling in all required information to gain their trust.
Once the process is complete, you may purchase costly subscriptions that are impossible to be canceled. And the information you provided can be used in illegal scenes.
How to recognize Tinder Verification Scam?
It will help if you tell your teenage kids that Tinder never verifies accounts via third-party links. Its verification process can be straightforward; all it needs is photo verification. If any of their matches suggests something other than this, it should be assumed to be a fraud.
Tinder Blackmail Scam
Blackmail Scam is the oldest form of fraud, with a new platform. However, because this new platform is digital and has an audience from all around the world, things can go wrong in many ways. The scammers will first try to befriend young daters and gain their trust. Once they get cozy enough to get intimate, the scammers will lure users into sharing their images or videos, even nudes.
Once the scammers receive the selfies, things can go wrong in several ways. First, scammers may have an advantage over them, and it is up to them to deal with these files. In some cases, they may blackmail the victims for money, and in other cases, they may ask for personal favors you can not refuse.
How to avoid the Tinder Blackmail Scam?
The only way to avoid such a blackmailing situation is to stop teens from sharing any inappropriate image and topless selfies on Tinder. Not just on Tinder, you should educate them to maintain privacy on all their social media and dating accounts. Because once the files go online, the thing will run out of control. Even if you delete them immediately, there is still a message record that scammers can trace.
Tinder Bot Scam
“One of the queries we received recently, where a teenager was dating a girl on Tinder, and now he was confused if she was a real person.” That is one of the rising problems with apps like Tinder. In addition, 61% of web traffic these days is bots stimulated. These bots are specially designed to prompt conversation with humans, and it’s also there to make the App’s number of users look higher, including Tinder.
Sometimes, there will be third-party bots too. For example, they send you a link or installation package of some app to initiate a conversation with you. The link can be anything; it can expose your kids to an adult dating app, porn website or make them reveal their personal information. It can be hard to tell whether the one you’re chatting with is a robot since they will act like regular people, ask you to play the game with them, or talk through another app to get more intimate.
How to prevent Tinder Bot Scam?
The problem with these bots is that they won’t spam your messages but will lead you to an illegal site that can harm your device. The clickable link the bot provides may show you to install a malware or virus app, which can cause your device to restart, but the worse is that it may hack your personal information. Introduce them to some of these signs to recognize a bot:
- These profiles are more technicality-based, as it’s challenging to program bots with emotional value.
- Look for repetitive patterns; for instance, ask one question twice and receive the same answer.
- Talk about some recent events to notice their response, especially local ones.
- Be careful if you receive any third-party links.
Actually, the danger doesn't exist on Tinder only or other apps. So here, we've prepared a complete guide for parents and teens to avoid online dating scams. Click the link to get the tips if you're interested in it.
Tips to Avoid Online Dating Scams
Wondershare FamiSafe—Make dating online safer
Teenagers can easily trust others in nature, and no matter how much you try to educate them, they are bound to make mistakes. Therefore, the only way to safeguard their online activities is to install a parental control app on their devices. The tricky part here is that you do not want to disturb their privacy. Wondershare FamiSafe is one such app that allows you to track your kid’s online activities and physical whereabouts without too much interference.
Screen Time
Wondershare FamiSafe allows you to track the screen time of your kids. Besides, you will be able to know how much time they’re spending on apps like Tinder. If you think they’ve spent a lot of time on Tinder, you can limit the time by creating an intelligent schedule for them. For instance, 2 hours only for Tinder on Weekend, 1 hour for Weekdays. Parents don’t need to focus on teens’ device activity with this feature.
Explicit Content Detection
One of the main problems with online dating is sexting. Teenagers, especially boys, are more inclined to sexting, and it can cause severe issues. Furthermore, there are extreme chances that your kids may be exposed to adult content on apps like Tinder. The explicit Content Detection feature of FamiSafe is set to help parents avoid this case. Once any explicit images or messages have been detected, you will receive an instant alert, which can free teens from inappropriate content and parents from inconsistent worries.
Location History
Parents often worry about where their kids are going, whom they are meeting. Plus, they want to keep them from crossing a certain distance. That can be achieved by using the geofence feature of FamiSafe. Not only this, but it also tells you about kids’ location history.
Conclusion
While there are no reliable ways to control these Tinder scams, one thing you can do is educate your kids about these vile frauds. Furthermore, do not forget to install a parental control app on their smartphone. Apps like Wondershare FamiSafe, not just help you know what your kids are doing online but will also put a tracker on their physical whereabouts.
Wondershare FamiSafe - The Most Reliable Parental Control App
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