In collaboration with Advocating Against Romance Scammers, together we are calling out all the mean people that online users may encounter attempting to love bomb or ask for money.

LOS ANGELES, California, October 2nd, 2023 – Today Tinder and its parent company, Match Group (MTCH), are collaborating with Mean Girls actor Jonathan Bennett to help remind users how to avoid online financial scams and toxic behaviors – from the man who knows a thing or two about toxic behavior.

Tinder is launching a new campaign that finally confirms Bennett’s question: What day is it today? Today is October 3rd, which is now known as World Romance Scam Prevention Day. This commemorative day was created to help fuel more education and awareness around an issue that impacts millions of people of all ages around the world to remind them to never send money or invest with people they’ve never met. 

“Fans have a lot of fun celebrating all their favorite memes and quotes every October 3, but it’s also important that we can take this day to acknowledge some important lessons about how we interact with others online,” said Jonathan Bennett. “We want everyone to continue to recognize this day, while also being more aware of the types of common behaviors of online scammers to watch out for.”

According to the FBI, crypto scams, such as “Pig Butchering”, now serve as the largest financial scam in the US, totaling over $3 billion. Additionally, while older adults have the highest percentage of romance scams reported, investigators say reports made by younger adults are increasing each year. 

"At Tinder, we are proud to lead on safety efforts and create campaigns that are both beneficial and culturally relevant that can help drive more awareness and make dating safer on our app and across online platforms,” said Stephanie Danzi, SVP of Global Marketing at Tinder. "On World Romance Scam Prevention Day, we are educating our users of all ages on ways to protect themselves so they do not fall victim to online fraudulent scams.”

Along with the rollout of Tinder’s campaign, Hinge is also sending in-app messages to users encouraging them to never send money or take investment advice from someone they’ve never met or don’t know. 

"World Romance Scam Prevention Day aims to squash stigmas that prevent approximately 97% of victims from reporting and obtaining justice,”  said  Kathy Waters, Executive Director, Advocating Against Romance Scammers. “Advocating Against Romance Scammers created this day to help bring together every global entity affected by the scams to increase awareness and help others understand the severity of the controlled manipulation in order for the fraud to succeed. We appreciate that Match Group and Tinder have joined our efforts and are doing their part to help raise awareness for their users on their platforms."

This campaign follows the public awareness campaign Match Group launched in January to help remind users of ways everyone can protect themselves from online scams. Over the last few years, brands across Match Group have taken proactive steps to help prevent and warn users of potential scams or fraud, from the introduction of new product features like selfie verification and video chat, to sending popup messages with safety tips if certain language is detected in conversations between users. 

To learn more about Advocating Against Romance Scammers, click here. 

About Match Group:

Match Group (NASDAQ: MTCH), through its portfolio companies, is a leading provider of digital technologies designed to help people make meaningful connections. Our global portfolio of brands includes Tinder®, Match®, Hinge®, Meetic®, OkCupid®, Pairs™, PlentyOfFish®, OurTime®, Azar®, Hakuna® Live, and more, each built to increase our users' likelihood of connecting with others. Through our trusted brands, we provide tailored services to meet the varying preferences of our users. Our services are available in over 40 languages to our users all over the world.

About Tinder:

Launched in 2012, Tinder is the world’s most popular app for meeting new people and has been downloaded more than 530 million times.  The app is available in 190 countries and 45+ languages.  More than half of all users are 18-25 years old. In 2022, Tinder was named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.