Date Published: August 5, 2025

Summary

Dating applications can expose users to various risks, including financial scams, violent crimes, and espionage. Criminal actors often use fake profiles to manipulate victims into providing money, personal information, or other sensitive content. This report addresses the risks associated with dating applications, red flags to be aware of, and safe practices for any OSAC members whose employees may be using dating apps overseas.

Risks Associated with Using Dating Applications Overseas

Criminal actors around the world use dating apps to seek financial gain, target certain categories of persons for violent crimes, or for intelligence gathering. Several of these crimes are referred to as “Romance Scams” due to the use of dating apps as the medium to facilitate the crime. These scams often use social engineering techniques to manipulate targets into taking certain actions that benefit the perpetrators. Romance scams generally follow a similar structure whereby perpetrators utilize fake profiles to gain the trust of a target before making demands or requests from their victim.

Several of the most common categories of crimes associated with dating apps that OSAC members should be wary of are outlined below:

• Pig Butchering scams normally occur over a period of months with perpetrators slowly developing their relationship with victims. The term comes from the animal husbandry technique where pigs are fattened up before being slaughtered. These scams also commonly occur via generic, unsolicited SMS text messages or via social media.

In the pig butchering romance scam, scammers slowly develop their rapport with a victim before soliciting money or suggesting the victim invest in financial assets, often on a compromised cryptocurrency platform that the scammer has access to – unbeknownst to the victim.[1] The scammer continues to encourage investment in the compromised account until they feel they have extracted sufficient funds from the victim before closing the account and taking all of the invested funds.[2] Pig butchering is normally very organized, and some groups have begun utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the scale of their scams.[3] One criminal group running pig butchering scams out of the Philippines reportedly stole USD $150,000 per victim, on average.

• Catfishing can be very similar to pig butchering but is normally less organized and done at a smaller scale. Catfishing also uses social engineering techniques to develop rapport with a victim and may involve the solicitation of money, but it is also executed with the objective of tricking or harassing a victim.[4]

• Sextortion occurs when the perpetrator of a social engineering scheme obtains intimate photos, videos, or other sensitive material from a victim. This normally includes convincing the victim to share such content. The scammer then threatens to publish the sensitive material publicly unless the victim cooperates with their demands which may include payments, additional requests for intimate content, or sexual favors – leveraging the fear and embarrassment associated with such personal content to manipulate victims.

• Robbery and theft have commonly occurred via contact on dating apps. This has notably occurred in several countries where male victims have sought out dates or sexual services via dating apps. During these incidents, targets may be robbed and/or assaulted when they arrive at a meeting point for a date, may be drugged once they meet their alleged date, or they may be drugged once they return to their hotel or private residence. Drugs like scopolamine or Rohypnol are often used, causing victims to lose full control over themselves and suffer memory loss for the period they are under the influence. This allows perpetrators to then easily rob an individual. U.S. Embassies in Latin American countries like Colombia and Mexico have issued alerts about the prominent use of this technique.

• Targeted attacks and sexual violence also occur via dating apps. These crimes mostly impact women and members of the LGB community. Women have been sexually assaulted and raped when meeting individuals on dating apps overseas and they may be targeted with “date rape” drugs, like scopolamine. Additionally, members of the LGB community have been targeted on dating apps and subsequently beaten or killed once they reached the meeting location. For example, several gay men were killed due to their sexual orientation in Brazil in 2024 after being lured via dating apps.[5]

• Espionage also occurs via dating apps. Foreign intelligence services may use dating apps to gather information on U.S. government employees, contractors, or strategically-significant corporate actors. For example, Russian actors have allegedly tried to establish contact with German military members and politicians to solicit information related to Ukraine.[6] Similarly, business competitors or hostile actors may exploit dating apps to gain access to sensitive business information.

Red Flags – Signs of a Potential Romance Scam

The romance scams utilized can vary by country but there are similarities in the social engineering schemes they employ across all apps. Collectively, these scams target a wide range of potential victims from minors and college-aged persons studying abroad, to mid-career managers and senior staff members. No single sex, race, age, or income-group that utilizes these apps is exempt from the risk. However, those that are experiencing loneliness, have limited social connections, have a low degree of digital literacy, and are overly trusting may be more susceptible to such schemes. Below are signs that you or a colleague may be the target of a romance scam on a dating app:

• An individual uses overly intimate language within a relatively short time frame.
• There are inconsistencies in an individual’s background story, profession, and family situation, or a general reluctance to share personal information.
• Their profile photos appear stolen, fake, or AI-generated.
• They share overly sensationalized stories such as facing sudden hardships.
• The individual has a lack of social media presence.
• They solicit financial assistance, especially urgently, for medical needs, for travel to visit the target victim, or other forms of unexpected financial hardship. Financial requests may escalate over time as the scammer builds trust with the victim.
• They solicit sexually explicit photos or videos.
• Scammers may request to move off a specific platform to an encrypted service to avoid detection (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.).
• They avoid in-person meetings and video calls, and request the relationship remain secret.
• They act in a way that is meant to manipulate emotions such as using guilt, flattery, or emotional appeals to have the victim comply with requests.

Mitigation Measures and Safe Use of Dating Applications

Having an awareness of the risks and measures to ensure dating apps are used safely can help prevent your travelers, expat staff, and local staff from succumbing to one of the scams described above. Some mitigation measures and advice for safe use of dating apps are:

• Be skeptical: Be skeptical of individuals demonstrating any of the “red flags” above. Conduct online research on a potential match to make sure the information available online about them supports the narrative they are sharing.

• Safe meeting practices: Meet in public places with good lighting and security. Inform a friend or colleague of your plans, including the location and time of the meeting. Avoid consuming alcohol or drugs during initial meetings. Arrange your own transportation. LGB individuals may educate themselves on friendly spaces for their community in a foreign country.

• Open communication: Talk with friends, family, or colleagues if you suspect a romance scam is occurring.

• Protect your privacy: Limit what you share online, and understand the type of information scammers may be able to find about you openly on the internet.

• Only share what is appropriate: Do not send any sort of financial assistance (money, cryptocurrency, bank transfer, gift card, etc.) or sexually explicit content to someone you do not know.

• Cultural understanding: Research local laws and cultural norms regarding dating and relationships when overseas. Understand what apps are reputable in a given country.

Additional Information

For more information on the security environment in specific countries, feel free to reach out to OSAC’s regional distros below:

• OSACAfrica@state.gov
• OSACAmericas@state.gov
• OSACAsia@state.gov
• OSACEurope@state.gov
• OSACMENA@state.gov