US Senate Passes Bill Requiring Dating Apps to Warn Users About Scammers

Dating apps in the US could soon have to warn users when someone they have been talking to is banned for suspected fraud. The Senate passed the Romance Scam Prevention Act by unanimous consent on September 23. The bill had already passed the House and will now go to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The bill would require dating platforms to contact users who received messages from an account that is later banned for suspected fraud. In most cases, the warning would have to be sent within 24 hours. This could help people who have already moved their conversation from a dating app to WhatsApp, Telegram or another service and would otherwise have no way of knowing that the original account had been banned.

The legislation was introduced in the House by Representative David Valadao in March 2025. Senators Marsha Blackburn and John Hickenlooper introduced their own version in the Senate around the same time. Both bills focused on the same issue: making sure dating app users are told when someone they have been communicating with is removed for suspected fraud.

Blackburn later turned her attention directly to Match Group. In September 2025, she and Senator Maggie Hassan wrote to CEO Spencer Rascoff asking how the company identifies and removes suspected scammers across Tinder, Hinge, Match, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid. They also asked how many users interact with fraudulent accounts, how Match’s recommendation algorithms work, how much it spends on trust and safety, and whether it generates revenue from suspected scam accounts or users interacting with them.

If the Romance Scam Prevention Act is signed into law, dating platforms would have one year to comply. The Federal Trade Commission would be responsible for enforcing the new requirements, with state attorneys general also able to take action. The bill does not set a specific dollar fine for breaking the rules. Violations would instead be treated as violations of the FTC Act.