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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Anna Betts

‘Like being in a vortex’: US report details extent of ‘devastating’ dating-app scams

Senator Maggie Hassan gestures while speaking into a microphone during a hearing
Senator Maggie Hassan in Washington in 2020. Hassan said there was ‘still more that Match needs to do’. Photograph: Alexander Drago/Reuters

Mary met a man on the dating app Plenty of Fish in 2024. She told the Guardian she had been looking for a connection, but instead became the victim of a romance scam that cost her almost $100,000.

“There was a lot of conversation, and then it started with the constant contact, pressure and repeated asks for money,” Mary, who asked that her last name be withheld, said in an interview on Tuesday. “It just escalated really, really quickly.”

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