AI scammers have found their way into Danes' dating apps

Security researcher Matthew "Zigula" Gore-Kormanik was investigating a dating app called Dora when he got a video call from "Jennifer," 41, red hair, piercings, fond of horror movies and nightlife, according to her profile.

When he took the call, there was no Jennifer to be seen. Only a wall tapestry moving in the breeze from a fan, and some odd distortion in the background.

After the call, "Jennifer" nonetheless wrote that she'd had fun and that his voice was "much better than expected." His microphone hadn't even been connected.

The background is bigger than one strange experience. The AI company Anthropic discovered the case when a single account was sending more than 100,000 requests a day to its AI model Claude, far more than an ordinary user ever would.

That led to the exposure of a network of about 28 dating apps, where the vast majority of conversations were run by AI personas without a single real person behind the screen.

The apps in question, including Dora, Romi and Doni, market themselves as real dating apps for "genuine connection," not as AI chat apps like Replika, where you know what you're getting into.

Only about one in four profiles turns out to be a real person, and even they are paid extras who don't write their own messages. They simply choose between three predefined replies and are used mainly to pass video checks.

For you as a user, this means: be extra critical if a dating profile consistently avoids video calls with a good excuse, or if the contact seems too perfect too quickly. There's no reason to panic, but healthy skepticism is warranted, especially if you or someone you know is active on lesser-known dating apps.