How to tell if your online date is a scam artist, according to a former con-man - and why a video call isn't enough to know someone is real

Online dating has never been easy, but a new generation of AI–powered scams are now making finding your perfect match riskier than ever before.

So how are you supposed to know who to trust? 

Alex Wood is a former 'hyper–prolific' scammer whose final seven–year prison sentence ended a decades–long criminal career, during which he swindled over £60million across various schemes.

Now working on the other side of the law as an adviser and anti–scam campaigner, Mr Wood has issued a stark warning to anyone using online dating apps.

He says that even taking a video call with your potential suitor is no longer enough to be sure you really know who they are.

AI tools have enabled an explosion of scams using sophisticated deepfakes that can seamlessly replicate audio or even video in real time. 

According to Mr Wood, these tools are now so sophisticated that they are 'almost impossible to detect' – and dating apps are some of the scammers' favourite targets.

'Fraud is constantly evolving, but the ingredients are always the same,' he told the Daily Mail.

'You have the lie and the loss; the only thing that changes is the way that the lies are deployed, how that false representation is made. Now, as tech develops, we're seeing that being made autonomously by AI bots.'

Prolific criminals like the famous 'Tinder Swindler' have tricked victims into giving away hundreds of thousands of pounds in elaborate schemes, and AI is only giving fraudsters more tools. 

According to research conducted by insurance firm SquareTrade, nearly half of Britons now say that AI is making scams harder to spot, and 15 per cent have already encountered a deepfake scam.

Unfortunately, Mr Wood also says that dating apps are one of the most common places these scams play out.

Ofcom estimates that about one in 10 UK adults, 4.9 million people, use online dating apps like Tinder, Hinge or Bumble.

While about 10 per cent of people now say they met their partner through these services, online dating has also opened up a new angle of attack for scammers.

Since dating apps are predominantly used by younger, tech–savvy people, you might expect that fraudsters would have a harder time.

However, Mr Wood says that scammers' access to AI tools has sparked a 'reversal of the vulnerability'.

'Younger people who are trying to protect their grandparents [from scams] are actually more vulnerable because they don't think they are,' he explains.

'Scammers will use whatever route they have to take advantage of someone’s vulnerability in the moment,' says Mr Wood.

'It’s a tale as old as time, but it can now happen at a scale we’ve never seen before.'

Scammers are still using the old romance fraud playbook, creating a fake relationship to trick someone into sending money or personal details, but their methods have been supercharged with AI.

Scammers now use off–the–shelf large–language models like ChatGPT or Claude to generate 'scripts' that help them gain their targets' trust.

While most commercial chatbots have safeguards against this kind of activity, Mr Wood says professional criminals have no difficulty getting around these restrictions.

But one of the biggest problems has been the rise of deepfake technology, allowing criminals to create images, audio and video of fictional people.

In the past, romance fraudsters had to use images they could find online, which savvy internet users could reverse search and realise they were being tricked.

But now, a competent scammer can create an entirely new identity that won't have any trace on the internet.

To make matters worse, live deep–faked videos can now create realistic dupes of live conversations, making once–safe video calls a potential fraud tool.

'Dating apps are still endorsing having a video call as if that's the safe measure by which to verify your love interest, but actually it's profoundly unsafe.

'A deepfake can be created in a matter of minutes and is very convincing, so we can't trust any form of digital presence.'

Mr Wood warns that it can be almost impossible to spot a well–made deepfake without technological assistance, making it extremely hard for daters to verify someone's real identity.

So, what can anyone do to make sure they stay safe online?

If you get a suspicious video call, one thing you can do is to ask the person to look directly at the camera and hold up three fingers in front of their face. 

According to current research, this movement can confuse current deepfake technology as it tries to track facial features. 

However, this is not completely guaranteed to spot a deepfake, so it's better to try and avoid scammers before it gets to this point. 

According to Mr Wood, one of the 'biggest red flags' that someone could be trying to scam you is if they pressure you to leave the app.

Some of the bigger dating apps are already using automated tools to detect deepfakes and AI images, so scammers will want to get you away from these protections.

Mr Wood says: 'For anyone using these apps, my advice is to resist pressure to leave the platform.'

Additionally, it's important to bear in mind that scammers aren't lone individuals, but rather massive criminal networks.

Organised crime syndicates operate vast 'scam centres' where teams of scammers, usually victims of human trafficking, collaborate to run elaborate cons.

In Southeast Asia alone, it is estimated that 300,00 people have been trafficked into scam centres, working in shifts to provide round–the–clock conversations to their potential victims.

'It's organised and ruthless. If she messages at three o'clock in the morning feeling lonely and wanting a chat, then somebody's there to pick up that conversation,' he says.

That means if your potential suitor is always up for a chat no matter the time of day or night, it could be because they aren't a real person.

However, the best way to keep yourself safe is to take Mr Wood's rather extreme advice: 'Never trust anyone ever'.

He continues: 'That's very upsetting when we think about relationships, so I would slightly nuance that and say never trust anyone if it relates to a request for payment.'

Anyone who asks you for money online should be treated with the highest level of scepticism.

'It could be your kids, it could be your mum and dad, it could be a colleague at work; if you weren't already going to make that payment, you need to drill down into what they're asking you.'

Likewise, if anyone on a dating app starts asking for financial help, the assumption should always be that they are out to scam you.

Dating app users should also bear in mind that scams evolve fast, and advice about spotting specific scams becomes redundant extremely fast.

By the time the general public is aware of a specific formula, such as the infamous 'hi mum' texts, the real criminals have moved on to the next scheme.

Mr Wood recalls that, during his criminal career, people were always warned that scammers would try to rush you into handing over money, so he would be as slow and comforting as possible.

He says: 'I used to always adopt the contrary approach, and I would be very slow and sort of adopt a consultant relationship with the victim.

'So they were thought: "Well, he can't be a fraudster, because fraudsters will rush me".'

However, Mr Wood says that customers shouldn't be expected to combat the rise of AI scams by themselves and that the dating apps themselves need to step up and offer more protection.

Apps could employ technology to automatically scan for certain patterns from known scam scripts, such as cryptocurrency pitches, urgent requests for money, or pressure to move off the app.

This could help to warn users when the conversation is becoming risky, and stop scams before they progress any further.

Mr Wood adds: 'Dating apps are doing what they can, but there is more that could be done.

'That starts with verification: ad hoc live checks rather than a one–off selfie, particularly when an account springs back to life, alongside biometric duplicate detection so that the same face can’t sit behind multiple profiles.'