Tinder, Hinge add India safety tools as Match Group, I4C target romance scams
Representative image: Felix-Mittermeier / Pixabay
Match Group and I4C launched a romance scam campaign on Tinder and Hinge on October 21, 2026, as the apps add screenshot blocks and video selfie checks in India.
What Happened
Match Group, the company that owns the dating apps Tinder and Hinge, has launched a romance scam awareness campaign in India with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, announced in New Delhi on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at its second Trust and Safety Festival in India. The campaign comes as the company expands India-specific safety features: screenshot blocking on profiles, a mandatory video selfie at sign-up, and the option to hide a profile from chosen phone contacts.
Key Facts
- Partnership: Match Group and I4C will run romance scam awareness messages across Tinder, Hinge and The League in India, the company said on October 21, 2026.
- Five warning areas: moving chats off the app, checking a match's identity, suspicious investment advice, requests for money, and attempts to build trust quickly before asking for money.
- Where to report: an I4C director pointed victims to the National Cybercrime Helpline, 1930, and the portal cybercrime.gov.in.
- Screenshot blocking: Hinge already blocks screenshots of profiles in India, and the feature is being extended to Tinder, according to Yoel Roth, Match Group's senior vice-president for trust and safety.
- Video selfie: both apps now require a short video selfie when people sign up, to check that a real person is behind the profile.
- Contact blocking: users can sync their phone contacts and choose people who should not see their profile.
- Company claim: Roth said early analysis shows the verification checks have cut the number of bad actors on the platforms by 40%; this figure has not been independently verified.
Why It Matters
Dating apps have become a normal way for young Indians in cities to meet people, and with that has come a familiar set of worries: fake profiles, harassment, and profiles being screenshotted and passed around without consent. Roth said the company heard concern, especially from women in India, that people would take screenshots of their profiles and share them on social media or with friends. Blocking screenshots of profile pages is a direct response. Users can still take screenshots of conversations, so that they can report abuse.
Romance scams are a different and costlier problem. In a typical case, a scammer builds an online relationship, moves the chat to another messaging app, wins trust over weeks, and then asks for money or pushes a "sure-shot" investment. Because the victim believes the relationship is real, the loss is often both financial and emotional. Working with I4C, the government body that coordinates the response to cybercrime, gives the campaign official backing and points people towards the national helpline and portal, where quick reporting can sometimes help freeze money before it disappears.
For young users, the practical value is in the warning signs. A match who quickly wants to leave the app, avoids video calls, talks about investments, or asks for money for an emergency fits the patterns the campaign highlights. The new video selfie checks are meant to make fake and AI-generated profiles harder to create, though the company's figure of a 40% fall in bad actors is its own estimate.
| Feature or step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Profile screenshot blocking | Stops others capturing your profile (Hinge now, Tinder being added) |
| Video selfie at sign-up | Checks that a real person is behind the account |
| Contact blocking | Hides your profile from people in your phone contacts |
| 1930 helpline | National Cybercrime Helpline for reporting fraud |
| cybercrime.gov.in | Government portal for filing cybercrime complaints |
What to do next: turn on the safety settings on any dating app you use, keep conversations on the app until you trust someone, never send money or invest on the advice of a match, and if you are cheated, call 1930 or file a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in as soon as possible.
Impact
Short-term: Indian users of Tinder and Hinge will see more in-app scam warnings and stricter sign-up checks, and their profiles will be harder to screenshot.
Long-term: If the measures work, they could make dating apps safer for women in particular and set an example for other apps, including matrimony and social platforms, which face similar scams.
Who is affected: Young people using dating apps in India, especially women, Match Group and its rival apps, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, and police cybercrime units.
Key Takeaway
Match Group and India's I4C launched a romance scam awareness campaign on Tinder and Hinge on October 21, 2026, as the company adds screenshot blocking and video selfie checks for Indian users.
Questions and Answers
What safety features have Tinder and Hinge added in India?
Hinge blocks screenshots of profiles in India and the feature is being extended to Tinder. Both apps require a video selfie at sign-up, and users can block chosen phone contacts from seeing their profile.
What is the Match Group and I4C campaign about?
Announced on October 21, 2026, it puts romance scam warnings on Tinder, Hinge and The League, covering off-app chats, identity checks, investment advice, money requests and fast trust-building.
How do I report a dating app scam in India?
Call the National Cybercrime Helpline on 1930 or file a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in, and report the profile inside the app.
Do the new checks really stop fake profiles?
Match Group says early analysis shows a 40% drop in bad actors after the verification checks, but that is the company's own figure and has not been independently verified.
Disclaimer: Prepared by the Peepals newsroom from publicly available sources with AI assistance. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication and may change. Images may be representative. Not professional advice. Report an error via our contact page.
Sourced and fact-checked by the Peepals Global Editorial Team
Reported, fact-checked and published by the Peepals Global Editorial Team.
