Dating and Social Media Platforms
Romance Fraud Awareness Week – Day 2: “It Starts with the Platform” (TBC)
Romance fraud can’t happen without a place to begin.
Every fake profile, every message, every stolen photo, it all starts on a platform that needs to improve.
This day is a direct call to action for dating apps, social media networks, and tech companies: you are not neutral. We need a way to strengthen to stop scammers exploiting.
If trust and safety aren’t built in, then harm is guaranteed.
What’s Happening on Platform Accountability Day:
Toolkit Drop: “What Platforms Need to Know About Romance Fraud”
- A practical, data-informed guide to recognising romance fraud as abuse, not just a ‘Community Guideline’ violation.
- Includes prevention recommendations, flagging patterns, and system-level accountability actions.
“The Profile That Never Existed” Visual Feature
- A campaign showcasing common fake profile patterns used by romance fraud networks, with real victim input.
- Educational for users and developers alike.
Evening Webinar: “Q and A with community idea suggestions”
- An opportunity for Dating Platform users (Globally), to ask questions and make suggestions about the current position of the platforms with regards to user safety, what they feel works well and what they ay like to see in the future. This can include safety in general, alongside Romance Fraud.
- What is being done well?
- Discussing what responsibility looks like, and what’s next.
Join The Meeting: 30th September 2025 at 8pm U.K time
Want to ask a question?
Open Letter: From Survivors to Platforms
- A powerful collective letter written by victims and advocates. Outlines what platforms must do: from pre-upload image scanning to meaningful identity verification and survivor-led policy reviews.
Innovation Panel: Tech Tools That Could Stop This
- Exploration of how AI moderation, facial clustering, scam detection APIs, and partnership with law enforcement could change the landscape, if platforms were willing to collaborate?
- What is being done right now that wasn’t last year? Can we scale this across all platforms?
- What platforms are currently collaborating? If not, why not?
The Elephant in the Algorithm
Romance fraud thrives on speed and invisibility.
But platforms know what the patterns look like. They have the data.
They could act, but often choose not to.
This day puts that in the spotlight.
What We’re Asking For
✔ Better identity verification for new profiles – including better identification of signals/markers
✔ Limits on mass messaging and contact requests
✔ Collaboration with survivor-led organisations for training and moderation
✔ Transparent reporting and escalation tools
✔ Commitment to investigating reports of abuse quickly and meaningfully
Final Words
If a profile is fake, the harm is real.
And every time a victim is told “we can’t help,” the platform becomes part of the abuse.
Let’s raise the standard, so the love we seek isn’t turned into a weapon.
The Online Dating and Discovery Association
Embrace the Journey
Find your path: Downloadable Resources
Online Dating & Discovery Association (ODDA)
We want your dating experience to be fun, enjoyable and safe. Follow our tips for a safe and great experience.
Millions go online as a start point to new relationships, whether serious or more casual. Most have a great time, making new important relationships. But, sadly, we have to remember there are some who try to use social media, dating and other services to develop relationships where their intention is to scam their new online friend. Our safety advice will help you stay date safe.
Simon Newman, CEO of the Online Dating and Discovery Association (ODDA), delivered a provocative talk at the Global Anti-Scam Summit London 2025, challenging the current approach to corporate accountability in online fraud. Speaking from his background in government and industry, Newman argued that existing laws and regulatory efforts have failed to stem the growth of scams.
He proposed a more radical solution: introducing corporate liability for scams, similar to corporate manslaughter laws. Companies that show a willful disregard for user safety online should face serious consequences, including criminal charges against executives. He also advocated for better information sharing between industries, the use of real-time scam data, a national-level agency dedicated to tackling scams, and stronger government leadership in fraud prevention efforts.
Newman showcased a pilot project with Scamalytics, where scammer IP addresses were shared across dating platforms to block bad actors across multiple sites. Early results show significant promise for cross-platform collaboration.
Closing his talk, Newman called for bold government action, deeper private sector collaboration, and greater investment in research to build a truly hostile environment for scammers.