“My enemies are after me.” Meet the dating app blocking thousands of swindlers every month.

The Tinder Swindler. It’s taken the internet by storm: dating apps flocked to block the fraudster, Simon Leviev, and social media erupted with hilarious memes.  Now, more than ever, the question of safety in online dating is under the spotlight.

But one dating app is way ahead of the drama. It’s been banishing swindlers and blocking scammers since day 1. It’s called Inner Circle, and it goes above and beyond to keep you safe. 

Leading this mission is their head of Screening & Support, Ana. She’s stopped over 45,000+ swindlers joining the app in the past year. Here are her secrets for spotting scammers… and stories of Photoshop fails on fake profiles. 

Ana, let’s get straight into it. What exactly is Screening?

“Exactly what it sounds like: screening every single profile for quality and safety. We work with machine learning to verify whether profiles are real, including checking photos and key information. Most apps don’t have a screening process - let alone a team manually checking profiles. It sets Inner Circle apart as the app for meeting people you’d actually want to go on a date with, rather than wasting time (and money…) on troublemakers.”

You must have some wild experiences with fake profiles…

“So many. One of my favourites was a guy from Brazil who used a stock photo as his profile picture. Obviously, his account was blocked - but he then messaged Support asking why we’d blocked him. 

We give everyone a fair chance to join Inner Circle, so we asked him to send a screenshot of his ID. He replied with a Photoshopped fake ID and the message “unblock me now”. So we decided to have some fun. 

We asked for a photo of him holding today’s newspaper, but he sent another stock photo in a COVID hazmat suit.  All you could see were two (Photoshopped) eyes and a piece of paper with the news and date edited on - and the message: “does that work?””

And did it work?

“Unsurprisingly, it did not.”

Let’s talk about The Tinder Swindler. Simon seemed genuine…until he wasn’t. 

“Not all scams - or swindlers - look the same. Simon is the toughest type to detect because he was real, with personal pictures and details… but an entirely different personality. 

Look out for yourself by keeping your conversations on Inner Circle until you feel comfortable moving over to a more personal platform. Simon’s tactic was to quickly jump to Whatsapp where he could send aggressive messages and ask for money without being flagged to Tinder.

And, although a lot of Simon’s victims had spent time with him: never transfer money to someone you’ve only spoken to online.”

Any final points for the singles out there?

“Swindlers like Simon do exist, but they’re a minority on dating apps. If you’re looking for cool, sociable singles who want to date in real life, Inner Circle is for you. We’re committed to making dating better - and safer - for members. And we’re always around to be your wingman. 

Not getting enough matches? Need help optimising your profile? Let us know. We can give you some tips.”

Folks, there may be hope yet. 

So what are you waiting for? Join the app setting the standard for safe dating. Sign up for Inner Circle here.

*not you, Simon.