Dating app founders fight back against fake profiles, catfishing and AI-generated deception

Dennie Smith was standing in a recreated First World War trench when she had a revelation.

The self-confessed military history enthusiast was on a trip with fellow like-minded individuals when she noticed a significant flaw in online dating apps — they simply did not cater for the kind of people peering over the rim of the trench alongside her.

"A lot of dating sites are just about volume, and they include fake profiles that conceal scams," she says.

Smith, who runs a hairdressing salon in Croydon, south London, decided to branch out into the dating industry with a focus on "the big market of geeky people."

Geek Meet Club: personal vetting and real-world events

As the founder of the Geek Meet Club, Smith wanted to bring like-minded people together whilst weeding out the surge of fake accounts she believes have undermined online dating. Personal vetting of each applicant is central to her approach.

"I'm very good at spotting a fake. But sometimes it's easy, one person submitted a photo of Boris Johnson!" she says.

Smith is content to turn away around 50 applicants per month rather than expose her 3,300 members to bad actors.

The club prioritises offline connection through events, monthly quizzes and plans to hire venues where members can attend in costume — a nod to the science fiction and comic conventions that draw strongly from her core audience.

"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 advises.

Cherry Dating: technology-led verification

Filtering out fraudulent profiles also motivated Jo Mason, a City of London banker who grew frustrated with counterfeit accounts on mainstream dating platforms and launched Cherry Dating.

"You look at profiles on these sites and ask yourself 'is this person real?'. You have to be like a private investigator researching people's profiles before you connect," she says.

Mason identifies several common failings in online dating. "Some people just want a fictitious romance but have no intention of ever meeting you. Or they're married, or just want an online relationship."

Catfishing — the practice of luring victims into relationships using false images or invented personas — takes many forms, she notes. "The lower end of catfishing just uses a 10-year-old photo. But some people may not look like their photo at all, or be a completely different person."

To combat this, Cherry Dating uses software that cross-references a member's selfie with their driving licence or passport, verifying that each profile belongs to a genuine person.

The approach mirrors practices Mason encountered in her finance career. "Big banks use this kind of approach to spot anomalies in accounts," she explains.

A significant number of prospective members abandon the sign-up process when they reach the ID verification stage.

The platform also scores users for compatibility, enabling members to make more informed decisions. "If you're 80% compatible that's good, you don't waste time with someone who's 5% compatible."

Research commissioned by Mason found that 47 per cent of British respondents feel no dating app currently meets their needs, whilst 40 per cent say dating apps have actually reduced their motivation to seek out a partner.

A separate poll of 2,000 UK dating app users by fraud-prevention firm Sumsub found that 54 per cent admitted to using AI to enhance their own online profile.

AI, prompts and dating coaches

Jocelyn Penque, a UK-based Texan dating coach and founder of Dating Classroom, has been working to help people navigate a landscape clouded by false information and AI intervention.

"I coach people about their strategies," says Penque. "My target audience are people who've been successful but have not prioritised relationships."

Drawing on her background in the tech sector, Penque is not opposed to online dating — she points to a personal example from back home. "My father is 79 and he met his girlfriend through Our Time, a dating app for older people," she says.

She also sees a legitimate role for AI tools in helping people articulate themselves. "A lot of people aren't good at expressing themselves, so Copilot or ChatGPT are useful if you don't like writing."

However, she warns that vague instructions can undermine the results. "Your prompts must be focused on what really matters, what your values are. So tell Copilot if you want a serious relationship and would like to have a family."

Interest-specific and age-related platforms, she believes, tend to yield better outcomes for users.

Taking clients to the Azores

Like Smith and Mason, Penque believes the key is to move relationships away from screens as quickly as possible. In May, she took a small group of clients to the Azores — roughly 1,000 miles into the Atlantic from Portugal — for an immersive few days of whale-watching and reflection on what they were really looking for in a partner.

"We were sitting in the middle of the Atlantic, it's a completely different space, it's much easier for them to think about new possibilities there," she says.

Penque has also experienced the cruellest side of real-life dating first-hand. She recounts going for a drink with a man who appeared to be good company — until he announced he was heading to the bar and never came back.

When she asked the barman if he had seen her date leave, the response was telling. "I know him, he's been coming here for three years and doing that," the barman replied.

Whatever its limitations, AI has not yet learned to treat people quite so poorly.