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Every Friday, Kay Reports uncovers global dating scams, emotional red flags, and digital deception, so you can date smarter, not harder.
Your match was banned for fraud. Nobody told you.
A new US law will change that in about a year. Here is what to do until then.
Quick answer
Dating apps are not yet required to tell you when someone you were chatting with is banned for fraud. The US Romance Scam Prevention Act, signed on October 20, 2026, will require that warning, but it takes effect in about a year. Until then, treat a match who suddenly vanishes as a possible fraud ban, never send money to someone you have not met in person, and report suspicious profiles while they are still visible.
I want to start with a woman I will never meet.
She lost her husband. In 2025 she joined Tinder, hoping for some company, and met a kind man who said he lived in New Jersey. Over the months that followed, he drew her into one urgent crisis after another: trouble on an oil rig, an arrest in Mexico, legal fees, a heart attack. She kept sending money.
When that collapsed, another group contacted her and offered to recover what she had lost. They took even more. In total she lost more than $700,000.
Her story is told anonymously in a US congressional report released on October 13. This is how she described what the scam took from her: "A romance scam takes more than money, there are wounds nobody sees."
I keep thinking about the gap the report describes. The moment an app knows an account is fraud, and the person talking to it does not.
What the investigation found
The report comes from the Democratic minority staff of the Joint Economic Committee, led by Senator Maggie Hassan, after a year-long investigation she began with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, cooperated and handed over hundreds of pages of internal documents.
1.5 million
Spam, bot and scam accounts on Tinder and Hinge that matched with at least one US user through the third quarter of 2025. Nearly 500,000 of them swapped contact details. Match Group's data does not separate scammers from spam.
70 to 500+
Profile views the typical scammer on Tinder received before being banned, from under 70 in May 2024 to over 500 in December 2025, based on Match Group's own data. The company says this measures operational efficiency, not risk to users.
70%+
The drop in interactions with bad actors on Tinder in the US after face verification rolled out, according to Match Group. That figure includes spam and bots, so it is not a scam-only number.
Match Group says it has made the biggest safety advances in its history, and it disputes the claim that its detection models went years without updates. The report welcomes the improvements. It also says internal documents showed long-standing weaknesses until late 2025.
The controversial take
Here is what bothers me most. When an app bans a scammer, the people already talking to that account may never find out. Picture the profile going quiet, then a message saying the app is glitching and could you move to WhatsApp. The one moment the platform knew the truth is the one moment you were not told.
A ban is not a warning until someone tells you.
I wrote about how quickly a banned scammer can be back on a dating app. This is the other half of that story. It is about what happens to the people left behind.
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What the new law does
Romance Scam Prevention Act
It was signed by President Trump on October 20. The Senate passed it unanimously in late September, with backing from Republicans and Democrats.
What apps must do: notify anyone who messaged an account that is later banned for fraud, generally within 24 hours of the ban.
What the notice says: which account was banned, when you last messaged it, that the person may have used a false identity or tried to defraud users, not to send cash or financial details, and where to find help.
Who enforces it: the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.
When: it takes effect in about a year.
If you are outside the US: it is an American law, so it does not cover you automatically. But the gap it targets, a banned scammer you keep talking to somewhere the app cannot see, exists everywhere. Romance scam losses have also reportedly surged in the UK, South Korea and Australia.
A verified badge is not a guarantee. Reporting in April 2026 described scammers getting verified with one photo of their own face while using other photos of someone else. Tinder says it has since strengthened its photo verification. Verification lowers your risk. It does not remove it. I wrote about why a photo is no longer proof.
🚩 Three signs a ban may have happened
They vanish from the app, then reappear.
Often with a story about the app: "it deleted my account", "it keeps glitching". The story is about the app. The reason is usually not.
The conversation moves somewhere quieter, fast.
WhatsApp, Telegram, email. I explained why that move matters a couple of weeks ago.
They switch numbers or accounts when you block them.
Two victims in the report described exactly this. A person with nothing to hide does not need a new number.
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What to do until the law starts
1. Screenshot first. Save the profile, the chat and any handles before you report or block.
2. Report while the profile is visible. Do not wait until you are sure.
3. No money to anyone you have not met in person. Not a small amount, not once. One woman in the report did a reverse image search and still lost nearly $100,000, so treat checks as help, not proof.
4. Tell one person early. A friend who knows about the match can see what you cannot.
5. If something has already gone wrong, here is last week's 24-hour checklist.
Quick questions
What is the Romance Scam Prevention Act?
A US law signed on October 20, 2026. It requires dating apps to warn users who messaged an account that was later banned for fraud.
When does it start?
In about a year. The FTC and state attorneys general will enforce it.
Does a verified badge mean someone is safe?
No. It lowers your risk but does not remove it, and scammers keep finding ways around it.
Is it my fault if I am scammed?
No. Romance scams are run by professionals. I wrote about why smart people fall for them here.
The Kay Reports rule
If your match disappears from the app, do not follow them somewhere quieter.
Forward this to someone who dates online. Most of us assume an app would tell us if a match turned out to be fraud. For now, it may not.
Hit reply and tell me: has a match ever vanished mid-conversation? I read every response.
Sources: ICIJ on the new law and the Joint Economic Committee minority report, October 2026.
Last updated 13 November 2026. Confirm details on the official sites, as laws and company figures can change.
Kay Reports. Date smarter, not harder. Every Friday. kayreports.com
