Bipartisan "Online Dating Safety Act" Seeks To Combat $1 Billion In Annual App Scams

The government is considering putting a law into place that helps stop online dating scammers. 

Sharing the story of a 66 year old woman who had "saved more than $2 million for her retirement and hoped to travel the world" and then lost all of it to someone she met on Match.com, CBS wrote this week that two lawmakers have introduced the Online Dating Safety Act.

She met a man on Match.com claiming to be a UK private equity investor named Santos. After weeks of romance, he asked her for $40,000 to renew a professional license.

"I was in a position, I could help a person. Why not? I never thought he was stealing or scamming. There was no reason," the woman told CBS. From there, Sue faced relentless lies, deception, and emotional abuse that ultimately cost her $2 million in savings, according to CBS.

She told her story to CBS: "Because I don't want anyone to go through the hell that I've gone through. I don't want anybody to be in the hell hole that I dug with the help of a criminal."

Romance scams cost over 64,000 Americans more than $1 billion last year, double the $500 million reported four years ago, per the FTC. Nearly half of dating site users report encountering scammers, prompting bipartisan concerns from lawmakers, the article says. 

Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) and David Valadao (R-CA) introduced the Online Dating Safety Act, which would require apps like Match.com to alert users if they’ve interacted with a scam account.

Valadao said: "No matter how advanced you think your ability to understand what's out there, they're gonna deceive so many people and we really have to get in front of this."

The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate, with plans to reintroduce it next Congress. CBS writes that Match Group stated they’ve started implementing fraud notifications and will work with lawmakers to finalize the bill.