The sexy AI-powered dating app scams are here
Security researchers uncover a network of 28 fraudulent dating apps using autonomous AI personas to deceive thousands of users, detailed by Anthropic in September 2026.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Researchers uncovered 28 fraudulent dating apps utilizing autonomous AI personas.
- Anthropic detected unusual Claude activity sending over 100,000 API requests daily.
- Most victims are middle-aged men with only one in four chats involving real humans.
The dating app landscape is facing a new wave of security threats as thousands of individuals fall victim to AI-supercharged scams operating on an industrial scale. Recent findings released in a security report have brought to light a sophisticated network of deceptive applications powered by artificial intelligence.
The investigation unfolded when security researcher Matthew “Zigula” Gore-Kormanik was analyzing a fraudulent dating app named Dora and received a pop-up video call from a profile named Jennifer, a 41-year-old Sagittarius with red hair, blue eyes, and piercings. Although he answered the call, he saw only a moving tapestry and heard audio distortion. After the call ended, "Jennifer" messaged him to say his voice was better than expected, even though his microphone was entirely disconnected.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Gore-Kormanik was investigating Dora and similar apps after receiving a spreadsheet of potential scam apps from a journalist. The investigation gained momentum on June 5th when Chris Cronbaugh, a threat intelligence researcher at Anthropic, delivered a presentation at the Sleuthcon cybersecurity conference. Anthropic had uncovered the fraudulent network after noticing unusual activity on Claude, where a prepaid account was generating over 100,000 API requests per day.
This disclosure marks a significant moment as a major AI corporation publicly discusses cyberthreat research while many of the offending applications remained active on major US app stores, highlighting ongoing regulatory and platform moderation challenges.
During the talk titled “Swipe Right, Pay Up: Industrial-Scale AI Catfishing,” Cronbaugh detailed a network of approximately 28 dating apps where conversations were predominantly managed by autonomous AI personas. He noted that the majority of chats did not involve a human agent at all, while the apps were marketed publicly as respectful and safe spaces for adults seeking genuine connections.
The scam typically targets men in their mid-to-late 30s who match with profiles they believe to be real women. However, only one in four profiles actually features a human, and those individuals are paid gig workers hired strictly to pass video liveness checks or manage social media presence rather than seek genuine dates.
"Backend components fabricated likes, visitors, and pre-recorded 'video' when no real person was available, and tracked which users had begun to suspect they were talking to a bot"
Anthropic report
Source: The Verge
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