Romance Scammers on Hinge Push Victims to Invest in Bitcoins, FTC Says
Image: ZDNET

Romance Scammers on Hinge Push Victims to Invest in Bitcoins, FTC Says

17 June, 2026.Crime.8 sources

The story in 15 seconds

  • Crypto-based romance scams target dating-app users with cryptocurrency investment pitches.
  • Scammers impersonate celebrities or fabricate emergencies to extract funds.
  • FTC lawsuits expose scam networks and platform-enabling practices.

The divide · 1 of 3

McAfee frames jobs scams for prevention; BFM frames dating as the main crypto route.

Who skipped what

How each outlet frames it

Every outlet we compared, the headline it ran, and a link to the original article.

Source Diversity
8 sources
Local Western
4
Western Mainstream
2
Other
2

Western Mainstream

BFM
BFM

Comment les arnaques aux cryptomonnaies arrivent sur les sites de rencontres

17 June, 2026

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TechCrunch
TechCrunch

FTC lawsuit reveals how subscription scam networks evade app store enforcement

17 June, 2026

Read the original →

Local Western

Capital.fr
Capital.fr

Uber sued for deceptive practices over its subscription system.

17 June, 2026

Read the original →
L'essentiel
L'essentiel

Scam – Impersonating Elon Musk and Stealing $2 Million

17 June, 2026

Read the original →
McAfee
McAfee

"Pay to be paid," the job scam of the moment

17 June, 2026

Read the original →
ZDNET
ZDNET

Tinder: how romance scammers prey on your heart, then your money.

17 June, 2026

Read the original →

Other

WeLiveSecurity
WeLiveSecurity

Jeux d'argent en ligne, un terrain de jeu pour les escrocs

17 June, 2026

Read the original →
Zamin.uz
Zamin.uz

Major App Store Scam: How the Genesis Tech Network Was Exposed

17 June, 2026

Read the original →

Full story

Crypto romance losses

On dating sites and social media, scammers lure victims into virtual relationships and then push them to invest in bitcoins or other cryptomonnaies on platforms that are presented as legitimate before making withdrawals impossible.

Les arnaques à l'amour sont presque aussi vieilles qu'Internet

BFMBFM

BFM reports that Niki Hutchinson, a 24-year-old who met the scammer on the Hinge app, was promised: "Je voudrais t'apprendre à investir dans les cryptomonnaies quand tu auras du temps, pour apporter un peu de changement à ta vie et un revenu supplémentaire".

Image from BFM
BFMBFM

The same report says she lost the equivalent of 300.000 dollars (265.000 euros) in bitcoins, described as the entirety of the inheritance she received after her mother’s death.

BFM adds that, out of 547 millions de dollars lost in an "arnaque à l'amour", 139 millions were transferred as bitcoins or other cryptomonnaies, and that the FTC places the average loss at 9.770 dollars (8.600 euros).

The FTC also says a third of victims were contacted on Facebook or Instagram, and that the losses show a growing share of victims aged 18-29.

Uber One cancellation fight

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is suing Uber over its subscription system, accusing the ride-hailing and home-delivery platform of misleading customers about subscriptions and making cancellation unreasonably difficult.

Capital.fr quotes Andrew Ferguson, FTC chair, saying: "Americans are fed up with being signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel," as the complaint targets the Uber One program.

Image from Capital.fr
Capital.frCapital.fr

Capital.fr says the FTC alleges Uber lured users into subscribing by charging nearly $10 per month while promising $25 in monthly savings, and that the promised savings did not take into account the cost of the subscription.

The article also reports that the FTC says Uber claimed cancellation would be simple and quick, but that many users encountered obstacles including lengthy processes and the need to contact customer service.

Uber denies the accusations, and Capital.fr includes the company spokesperson’s statement: "Uber One's sign-up and cancellation procedures are clear, simple, and in full compliance with the letter and spirit of the law," while the FTC complaint proceeds.

Genesis Tech app-store evasion

A separate FTC lawsuit described by TechCrunch alleges that a company known as Genesis Tech defrauded consumers and routed revenues overseas through shell companies designed to conceal its identity and hide its assets.

TechCrunch says the network allegedly included subsidiaries incorporated in Cyprus and operating in Ukraine, and that from early 2023 to mid-2025 the product offerings of five companies accounted for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in global revenue.

The suit also notes that, in the 12 months ending in September 2025, transactions through all of the company’s connected PayPal accounts totaled nearly $700 million.

TechCrunch frames the mechanism as subscription scams that are easy to sign up for but hard to cancel, and it says the company made cancellation difficult by omitting cancellation options from its websites and apps.

The case names co-defendants including Stamatis Skianis, Oksana Kucher, Iryna Oleksyn, Olga Garbuzenko, Rostyslav Ivanitsa, and Viktoriia Savchuk, and it is set to be tried in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The deep audit

How victims, perpetrators and terms are handled across outlets.

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