Romance scams: new US law requires dating apps to warn users about banned fraudsters

Dating apps and sites in the United States will have to actively warn users who have been in contact with a suspected fraudster. President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Romance Scam Prevention Act on 20 October, the office of Republican Congressman David Valadao said on 21 October; according to the investigative network ICIJ, the Senate had passed the bill unanimously in late September. In the Senate, Republican Marsha Blackburn and Democrat John Hickenlooper backed the measure.

At its core is a notification duty: when a platform bans an account for fraud, it must generally inform every user who received messages from that account within 24 hours. According to ICIJ, the notice must identify the banned account, state when messages were last exchanged, warn that the person may have used a false identity, advise against sending money or financial information and point to sources of help. The rules take effect after one year and will be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general.

The backdrop is heavy losses: FTC data cited by ICIJ show more than 70,000 romance-scam reports in the US in 2025, with reported losses of 1.47 billion dollars – a record. Valadao called the law a "common sense step" towards online safety, while Senator Blackburn said scammers prey on Americans looking for companionship. How effective the warnings will be depends on how quickly platforms detect fraudulent accounts – precisely where a minority report of Congress's Joint Economic Committee recently faulted Tinder owner Match Group.