Experts: Facebook Dating App Could Be Ripe For Scammers

When Facebook announced that it’s working on a dating app that will launch later this year, many privacy experts expressed concern. After all, Facebook already knows nearly everything about us — does it need to know the intimate details of our romantic lives, too? But there’s another, less obvious issue that has some experts sounding the alarm bell: scammers using the app to take advantage of users.

Unfortunately, this kind of crime already happens on Facebook all too often. These scammers will take someone else’s photos, set up fake profiles and message users to initiate a relationship. Then, when they gain that user’s trust, they bilk them out of their money. And since that kind of scam already happens all the time on Facebook, it’s safe to assume the social media giant’s dating app will be no different.

“Crooks use Facebook to target vulnerable and lonely people,” Danny Boice, president of investigation firm Trustify, told CBS News. “It seems to a fair bet that those same criminals will see a new Facebook dating service as a huge opportunity.”

Of course, these scams can be easy to detect if you know what you’re looking for. Random friend requests, hesitance to meet in real life, suspicious-sounding stories and more are all dead giveaways. But it’s still concerning that Facebook’s dating app hasn’t even been created yet and some experts are already warning users of where it may lead.