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Tinder Scam Promises Account Verification, But Actually Sells Porn (csoonline.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the bait-and-switch dept.

itwbennett writes: Tinder users should be on the lookout for Tinder profiles asking them to get "verified" and then sending them a link to a site called "Tinder Safe Dating." The service asks for credit card information, saying this will verify the user's age. Once payment information has been captured, the user is then signed up for a free trial of porn, which will end up costing $118.76 per month unless the service is cancelled. In Tinder's safety guidelines, the company warns users to avoid messages that contain links to third-party websites or ask money for an address.

10 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Better have midgets by simcop2387 · · Score: 1

    It better be the best porn ever for $118/mo. Even if you are being scammed.

  2. So by mt2mb4me · · Score: 1

    How many months did it take you to catch it subby?

  3. How does this work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure how this ever works. You see it on your bill - even if you miss the first month, you can't miss seeing it for long. So then you dispute the charge and have future charges blocked. I don't see how the scammers come out with anything at the end of the day.

    1. Re:How does this work? by taustin · · Score: 1

      The consumer gets their money back by law (over $50, at least). They get it back from the bank,. Getting the money back from the con artist is up to the bank. Normally, a credit card merchant sees the money in their account within a day or two. The card holder doesn't see the bill for up to a month. The only way the bank has to get money back from the con artist is to take it out of their account, which is empty long before the bank gets the chargeback.

      Yeah, they need to set up new merchant accounts every month or two, with new bank accounts. This can be done easily, quickly, and generally automatically.

    2. Re:How does this work? by stoatwblr · · Score: 1

      "The consumer gets their money back by law (over $50, at least)."

      yup, The scammers made a mistake by putting the charge well over the clawback threshold. There's a reason most of them make it $10-20/month.

  4. Incompetent scammers by lucm · · Score: 1

    From what I see in the linked article, the scammers use a very low quality profile picture, very pixelated. Either they used an iPhone camera or they're from Japan.

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    lucm, indeed.
  5. Well, do you at least get your money's worth? by ShooterNeo · · Score: 1

    $118 sounds like an absolutely massive set of porn collections. Just how much porn can you get for that price?

  6. Re:This has been the case for a while by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    Tinder has always rife with these kinds of scams, sometimes seems like every third person matched sends a large pasted paragraph with a bit.ly link at the end.

    And you know this because .....

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  7. I've seen this by briancox2 · · Score: 1

    Anyone who has ever fallen for this scam deserves the consequence as a sort of financial Darwinism.

    Really 23 yr old hottie? You want some 30 or 40 something man to validate his existence by sharing his credit card number. Yes ... that seems very reasonable ...

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    We should learn what we need to know about issues, before we decide what we need to feel about them.
  8. Re:This has been the case for a while by taustin · · Score: 1

    I'll bet it's not nearly as prevalent as it is on Craig's List. CL personals are literally nothing left but the scammers. They've even driven the prostitutes out.