Match Group CEO on romance scams: "Things happen in life"

The CEO of nan nation's largest online making love institution told CBS News that his institution cares profoundly astir protecting its customers, though his consequence for those who person mislaid their life savings to overseas romance scammers, was much nuanced: "Things hap successful life."

"Look, I mean, things hap successful life," said Bernard Kim, nan CEO of Match Group, erstwhile asked really he would reside his customers who had been scammed. "That's really difficult. I person a tremendous magnitude of empathy for things that happen, but I mean, our occupation is to support group safe connected our platforms; that is apical foremost, astir important point to us."

Kim said successful consequence to questions stemming from a yearlong CBS News investigation into nan widening threat posed by overseas-based criminals who managed to bargain much than $1 cardinal past twelvemonth from victims they person wooed into online romances. The investigation is nan taxable of a CBS Reports documentary that streams connected nan CBS News app and CBSNews.com opening astatine 9 p.m. ET Sunday, April 28.

Senior U.S. rule enforcement officials told CBS News nan scams are not a caller problem — but they person been supercharged by nan easy entree that con artists person to vulnerable, lonely Americans, who spell looking for companionship connected social media and making love apps.

"We spot from 2017 to 2023 is erstwhile we had nan crisp summation successful romance frauds," said James C. Barnacle Jr., nan financial crimes conception main for nan FBI. Asked what changed, Barnacle replied: "The proliferation of nan making love sites."

The cases, national officials report, person ensnared tens of thousands of victims — galore of whom are excessively embarrassed to study nan crime. The range of victims has broadened to see younger, wealthier and amended knowledgeable group who spell online successful hunt of partners. By immoderate estimates, arsenic galore arsenic 40% of nan victims are men.

Match Group, which operates an array of celebrated making love websites and apps, says it has expanded its information posture and invests much than $125 cardinal a twelvemonth to protect customers. The institution says it succeeds successful removing 96% of fraudulent accounts wrong a day.

The institution disputes an allegation nan Federal Trade Commission leveled successful a 2019 lawsuit, which claimed nan agency's independent reappraisal of information from 2013 to 2018 showed arsenic galore arsenic 25 to 30% of profiles connected nan flagship website, Match.com, were opened successful bid to perpetrate fraud. In defending against nan lawsuit, Match Group based on that it did not judge nan FTC declare had merit and that it was not legally responsible for nan interactions betwixt scammers and their victims because of a wide immunity rule that protects net platforms from ineligible action.

In ruling connected nan case, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade wrote that nan proviso known arsenic Section 230 of nan Communications Decency Act granted web-based work providers, for illustration Match, immunity from liability for contented posted by 3rd parties connected their sites. The judge dismissed nan information of nan FTC lawsuit that tried to clasp Match Group responsible for fraud activity connected their platforms.

Last month, Match Group hired Yoel Roth, nan erstwhile caput of spot and information for nan institution past known arsenic Twitter, to return connected nan domiciled astatine nan online making love site. On LinkedIn, Roth said, he first took an liking successful what nan manufacture calls spot and information 15 years earlier, "because nan then-new world of making love apps felt for illustration nan Wild West."

"It's genuinely a dream travel existent to get to rotation up my sleeves and activity to protect nan millions of group making connections connected our apps worldwide," Roth said.

Kim told CBS News nan institution has sought to bulk up its protections for customers retired of a nickname that doing truthful is "existential to our business."

"It is nan first and foremost apical privilege for america arsenic an organization," Kim said. "We're moving really, really difficult each azygous time to make judge that group are authentic."

More from the CBS News Investigation:

• In 1 woman's mysterious drowning, signs of a nationalist romance scam epidemic
• When her mother went missing, an Illinois female ventured into nan acheronian corners of America's romance scam epidemic
  
• Romance scammers move victims into "money mules," creating a ineligible minefield for investigators
  
• As romance scammers move making love apps into "hunting grounds," critics look to Match Group to do more

CBS News investigative reporters Pat Milton, Clare Hymes and Alyssa Spady contributed to this report.

If you aliases personification you cognize has been affected by a romance scam, please stock your communicative pinch america astatine [email protected]