Hosting fraudulent activities on your platform is detrimental to business, which is why a coalition of major tech companies, including Match Group, Meta, Coinbase, and others, is jointly launching Tech Against Scams. This initiative aims to combat online fraud across dating apps, social media platforms, and cryptocurrency.
Tech Against Scams will focus on developing strategies to counter the tactics employed by scammers and enhance public awareness of financial scams. Even predating series like “The Tinder Swindler,” romance scams have inflicted significant financial losses on users. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, romance scams have caused more financial harm to victims than any other form of consumer fraud as of 2019. Social media fraud is also a pressing issue, with U.S. consumers losing $770 million to social media scams in 2021, marking an 18-fold increase since 2017. Furthermore, investment scams resulted in consumer losses exceeding $3.8 billion last year, more than double the losses in 2021, as reported by the FTC.
Moreover, the crypto industry has become a hotbed for fraudulent activities, leading to criminal charges against company founders and notable industry figures for fraud, money laundering, hacks, and other offenses. The prevalence of fraud in this sector has prompted the creation of dedicated platforms to monitor its fallout.
While these fraudulent activities occur on platforms rather than being perpetrated by the platforms themselves (with some exceptions in the crypto sphere), allowing them to proliferate can tarnish the reputation of tech companies. Additionally, many scams transcend platforms, with victims being lured from dating apps to cryptocurrency exchanges, highlighting the need for improved data-sharing among companies to combat this issue.
Joining forces with Meta, Coinbase, and Match Group are other players in the crypto space such as Kraken, Ripple, and Gemini. Together, these firms aim to protect their users from romance scams and other fraudulent schemes, including the “pig butchering” crypto scam, a long-term investment fraud targeting users on social apps.
The increasing sophistication of AI has blurred the line between scams and genuine interactions, with scammers leveraging AI to create convincing FaceTime calls, phone calls, and emails to deceive victims.
According to Yoel Roth, VP of Trust & Safety at Match Group, collaboration among tech companies is crucial in preventing criminal activities and safeguarding online platforms. Roth emphasizes the importance of investing in features to disrupt fraud and remove scammers from platforms proactively.
Meta Chief Security Officer Guy Rosen emphasizes the necessity of collaboration among companies to effectively combat this problem, given the broad scope of scams targeting individuals across various internet services.
To protect users from fraud on their platforms, coalition members will share tips and information, collaborate on educating and safeguarding consumers against evolving financial scams, and work with law enforcement to support investigations into online fraud and related crimes.
