Love factually: Dating start-ups promise to cut the cheats

Dating start-ups are increasingly focusing on manual vetting, identity verification, and offline events to eliminate fake profiles, scams, and deceptive behavior from online matchmaking. Founders are utilizing both hands-on screening processes and advanced software to ensure their members are authentic, while encouraging users to transition to offline meetings as quickly as possible.

Dennie Smith, the owner of a hairdressing salon in Croydon, south London, founded the Geek Meet Club to establish a safe dating space for "the big market of geeky people." Smith personally vets each applicant to filter out fake profiles and scams, declining around 50 applicants per month to protect her 3,300 members. She noted that some fake accounts are obvious, stating, "I'm very good at spotting a fake. But sometimes it's easy, one person submitted a photo of Boris Johnson!"

The Geek Meet Club aims to move dating back into the physical world through events, monthly quizzes, and costume-friendly venues. Smith advises her members to transition offline quickly to verify their dates. "I tell my members to meet in person as soon as possible, go for a coffee in the park, or on the High Street, to find out if the other person is legitimate," she said.

Filtering out dishonest users also drove Jo Mason, a City of London banker, to establish Cherry Dating. Tired of encountering counterfeit profiles, Mason designed her platform to require prospective members to verify their identity. The site uses software matching to compare a user's selfie with their driving licence or passport, a process that causes some prospective members to opt out.

Mason compared this security measure to financial industry standards, stating, "Big banks use this kind of approach to spot anomalies in accounts." The platform also scores users on compatibility to help them make informed connection choices. Mason explained, "If you're 80% compatible that's good, you don't waste time with someone who's 5% compatible."

Research commissioned by Mason shows that 47% of British respondents feel no dating app meets their needs, while 40% say such apps have decreased their motivation to meet someone. Furthermore, a poll of 2,000 UK dating app users conducted by fraud-prevention firm Sumsub revealed that 54% of respondents admitted to using artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance their online profiles.

Jocelyn Penque, a UK-based Texan dating coach and founder of Dating Classroom, helps clients navigate false profile information and AI integration. With a tech sector background, Penque supports online dating and notes that her 79-year-old father met his girlfriend through Our Time, an app for older people. She also supports the use of AI tools like Copilot or ChatGPT for individuals who struggle with writing, provided their prompts remain focused on core values.

To foster genuine offline connections, Penque took a group of clients to the Azores in May for whale-watching and relationship introspection. The trip aimed to remove clients from screens, offering them a different environment to contemplate new possibilities. The article concludes by noting that while dating face-to-face has its own challenges—such as an anecdote where a man abandoned his date at a bar—AI has not yet learned to treat people so poorly.