Three quarters of UK dating app users suspect they've encountered deepfake profiles. One in five has been directly fooled. Americans lost over $1.14 billion to romance scams in 2023 alone—the FTC says the real number is higher because most victims never report.
Platforms are panicking. Tinder just rolled out Face Check across the U.S., making video selfie verification mandatory for all new users. Early results: 60% less exposure to scammers, 40% fewer bad actor reports. LinkedIn hit 100 million verified members this month—verified profiles get up to 60% more views and up to 50% more engagement. Match Group plans to bring Face Check to Hinge, OkCupid, and Match by 2026.
Here's the gap: even real people look fake on camera when they're nervous. They freeze. They overthink. They speak like they're reading a ransom note. The video comes out stiff, awkward, weird—and on a platform where trust is everything, weird equals suspicious.
Platforms verify identity. Nobody verifies vibe.
Why the Verification Economy Is Real
The FTC logged 64,000+ romance scam reports in 2023. Median loss: $2,000 per victim—the highest for any imposter scam category. Moody's tracked 1,193 new entities linked to romance scams in 2024, a 14% year-over-year increase. The COVID isolation years juiced the problem, but deepfakes are making it worse.
Tinder's Face Check is now required for all new users in California and seven countries. More states are coming. Bloomberg called it a "significant shift in consumer technology"—biometric verification moving from opt-in badge to mandatory condition of service. Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff: "Safety is an essential part of the Tinder experience, built into how people join, match, and connect."
The numbers back it up. Tinder's Head of Trust & Safety, Yoel Roth, called Face Check "perhaps the most measurably impactful Trust and Safety feature I've seen in my 15-year career."
Dating apps aren't alone. Airbnb now requires identity verification for all hosts and guests globally. Upwork mandates government ID checks and live video calls for freelancers. LinkedIn invested heavily to verify 100 million users for free—while X charges for verification, LinkedIn treats it as infrastructure.
Fake is cheap now. Proof is expensive. Platforms are making proof mandatory.
The Wedge: Video Coaching as a Service
The opportunity isn't selling verification videos—most verification is in-app, live, and biometric. A polished pre-recorded loop won't help and could be flagged as circumvention.
The real opportunity is helping normal people look natural on camera. On the first try. Under pressure.
Start with a productized service.
The Vibe Check — $199
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