Legislation Change Set to Inform Daters of Suspected Scammer Matches

New legislation in the US state of Arizona could inform online daters when one of their matches is removed from the platform for being a potential scammer.

Bill 2396 was unanimously approved by the house last week, and will be passed to the governor of Arizona, Govn. Doug Ducey.

Match.com representative, Ryan O’Daniel, told lawmakers that dating sites generally have good protections designed to preclude conversations that will lead to a member being asked to send money to someone else.

According to Daily Independent, O’Daniel explained: “What we’ll see frequently is scammers sign up or fraudsters sign up for an account.

“They’ll send out a bunch of messages to a bunch of different members. As soon as they get somebody that’s having that communication with them, they will quickly move them off of our platform to avoid our detection or protection.”

It is estimated that in 2018, singles in Arizona lost over $8 million to dating scammers. Currently, dating platforms have the power to remove anybody they feel could be fraudulent.

However, they aren’t required to reach out to anybody who has had previous contact with that user and may have taken the discussion ‘off-platform’.

The bill will require dating platforms to identify and reach out within 24 hours to anyone who has been in contact with that person, informing them that person is subject to a ‘fraud ban’. That information would include not only the person’s username but also any other information to enable the potential victim to identify who might still be trying to scam them.

Read more here.