For users in the UK, Tinder is introducing enhanced identity checks that will compare a video selfie with a passport or driver’s license.
Enrolling in the voluntary program entitles users to a profile icon that authenticates their age and likeness.
Fraudsters have targeted the dating app on several occasions.
Although the move was welcomed, the nonprofit Victim Support stated that apps like Tinder needed to “go further.”“Ensuring ID verification is mandatory across all dating apps, rather than optional, would be more robust,” charity spokesman Wayne Stevens told the BBC.
“Romance fraud is a devastating crime, particularly because of the shame and stigma around it.”
Catfishing is a fraud in which a person pretends to be someone else in order to enter into a relationship.
They may try to trick someone into entering a romantic relationship with the intention of stealing money from them.
To stop the practice, there have been calls for more forceful measures.
According to Tinder, the new system it is implementing should increase users’ trust that the people they meet on the app are who they claim to be.
Users who authenticate their ID will receive a blue ID icon badge, and those who validate a photo will receive a blue camera icon badge. If someone finishes both steps, they will receive a blue checkmark.
In 2023, the system was implemented in New Zealand and Australia.
According to the company, users in these countries who opted to be verified had a 67% higher chance of finding a match than users who were not verified.
The tool is being made available to individuals based in the US, Brazil, and Mexico in addition to the UK.
This is not the app’s first such initiative; it has been downloaded over 500 million times and bills itself as the
“world’s most popular app for meeting new people.”
It has previously attempted to authenticate users by using selfies and granting celebrities blue checkmarks.
