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Online dating industry prepares for surge in forced refunds ahead of Valentine’s Day spike in dating app usage
February 2023 by Monica Eaton, founder of Chargebacks911.
Valentine’s Day is a time of romance and connection, but for businesses in the dating website and dating app industries, this time of year can bring extra worry due to the risk of chargebacks, a term for forced refunds initiated by a card holder with their issuing bank. Chargebacks can be detrimental to a business’s bottom line, and as such, operators of romance sites and apps must be aware of the potential risks and how to combat them.
The increased usage of dating apps and websites around Valentine’s Day is not surprising, as people tend to look for companionship around this time of year. Most platforms offer special discounts and promotions to attract more users to their sites, leading to an influx of people trying to find love on the internet.
As such, usage of both dating apps and dating websites experience increased usage around this holiday. An Adjust report claimed that, on February 14, 2021, global installs of dating apps saw a 14 percent increase compared to February’s average.
“Unfortunately, when there is increased usage of these platforms, fraudulent activity is often not far behind,” said Monica Eaton, founder of Chargebacks911. “Scammers often take advantage of people’s heightened desire to meet someone during the holiday, and with the surge of usage around Valentine’s Day, the risk of fraudulent activity has increased as well.”
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that, in 2021, there were approximately 56,000 complaints of romance scams, with a median of $2,400 and an accumulative, record-breaking $547 million lost by consumers. To protect users, dating apps and websites have implemented enhanced security measures such as identity verification protocols and fraud prevention teams.
Regardless, with the increased prevalence of online romance scams, chargebacks and fraud remain a significant threat for dating apps and websites. According to a 2022 alert issued by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, online dating fraud cost victims an estimated $1 billion in 2021, and with many cases of fraud leading card holders to file chargebacks.
Chargebacks occur when customers threaten or dispute a payment made to an online dating business. This often happens when a customer doesn’t recognize the payment or believes that the services received were inadequate.
Additionally, chargebacks can be caused by scammers who use stolen credit cards to purchase services from the dating app or website. To protect themselves from chargebacks and fraud, dating apps and websites must implement robust fraud prevention protocols and utilize comprehensive payment processing solutions.
To help prevent and dispute chargebacks, Eaton says dating apps and websites can implement additional security checks for all payment transactions. These platforms should also use fraud prevention solutions to detect suspicious activity. Additionally, they should be sure to provide customers with clear and concise policies regarding chargebacks, as well as providing clear refund policies to allow customers to initiate their own refunds. Finally, they can encourage customers to use payment methods that are more secure and harder to dispute, such as credit cards instead of debit cards.
