Swipe, Chat, Invest: How Iran Is Using Dating Apps To Target Americans

It's often said that anything is fair in love and war. In the current US-Iran conflict, the two seem to have collided at an unexpected place: dating apps.

According to a report by Daily Express US, an alleged crypto scam network linked to the Iranian regime is targeting Americans on dating platforms such as Tinder and Bumble. 

The modus operandi is familiar. A friendly chat. A quick bond. Then, an investment tip. Victims believe they are building a relationship. In reality, they are being guided toward a fake crypto investment platform. The money may ultimately be routed into Iran's treasury.

Bezalel Eithan Raviv, a Tel Aviv-based blockchain forensic expert and founder of Lionsgate Network, has said Iran, North Korea and Russia target citizens to finance geopolitical agendas. His firm earlier assisted Israeli authorities in tracing and seizing over $90 million in crypto funds from Hamas after the October 7 attacks.

"We're looking at nearly $1 trillion globally being scammed from individuals at the end of the funnel," Raviv told Daily Express US. 

How The Scam Works

The method is known in cybercrime circles as a pig butchering scam. Fraudsters spend weeks, sometimes months, "fattening" victims with flattery and trust before steering them to invest in fraudulent crypto schemes. Payments are demanded in cryptocurrency because it allows "instant access and easier obfuscation".

Once received, the funds are shuffled across multiple blockchains to "cloak" their origin. By the time authorities begin tracing, the trail is cold.

Social platforms beyond dating apps are also hunting grounds. Facebook and Instagram frequently feature in first contact points before conversations migrate to private chats.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime:

Investment scams are now the single largest contributor to reported losses. Cryptocurrency accounts for nearly three-quarters of these frauds, far outpacing cards, wires or cash, as per the FBI data.

A Security Blind Spot

Raviv argues the bigger concern is not just financial loss but national security. There is, he says, a "huge chasm" between identifying such scams and having the capability to trace, freeze and recover the funds-especially when they move across chains and jurisdictions.

In this version of asymmetric warfare, ordinary citizens become unwitting financiers. A swipe right can, unknowingly, become a funding source in a conflict thousands of miles away.

For users, the red flags are subtle: a new match who quickly builds intimacy, nudges the conversation toward investments, and insists on crypto transfers. For investigators, the red flags are buried under layers of blockchain hops. Love and war were always complicated. In the age of AI chatbots and cryptocurrency, they are now profitable too-for the wrong people.