Social Discovery Group (SDG) has suspended payments to an affiliate partner and ordered an investigation after a press report uncovered evidence of misrepresentation on some of its dating platforms, including Dating.com.
SDG said it is examining recent evidence of misrepresentation or dishonesty on some of its platforms as it continues efforts to make Dating.com and other sites in its global portfolio safer and more reliable for users. Payments to the affiliate partner in question have been suspended, and the partner has been barred from connecting with new users while an external firm carries out the investigation. Until the inquiry concludes, SDG said there will be no further detail about the company involved.
The move comes as SDG continues to strengthen its fight against fraud and scam activity across its platforms. The group identified and shut down more than 30,000 accounts suspected of fraudulent or scam-related activity in 2025 using enhanced monitoring tools.
Dating.com is one of numerous platforms owned by SDG, a group of social discovery companies. The group is investigating claims that some users spent thousands of dollars interacting with members whom one press report claims were not genuine. SDG does not permit profiles using licensed likenesses or any arrangement where the person depicted in a profile is different from the person operating the account — every profile on its platforms, the company said, must represent a real individual who personally uses that account.
To reassure users, SDG said compensation payouts reached $370,000 in 2025 in cases where it was clear its platforms had fallen below the standards expected.
The company frames romance fraud as a systemic, industry-wide challenge that isn’t confined to any single platform. SEC filings from major operators in the sector have identified persistent romance-scam risk, with some noting that monitoring systems “may fail” and that users “have in the past and may in the future” use platforms to try to carry out romance scams.
SDG uses the external provider SumSub — which relies on government ID and biometric liveness checks — for identity verification for some members on its platforms. Enhanced verification is mandatory for all free users and must be renewed every six months; it remains optional for paid users.
The scale of the scamming problem is significant. A recent SumSub report found that identity fraud across the dating industry spiked to nearly 9%. An AARP-commissioned survey from February 2026 found that roughly 1 in 10 American adults over 50 had been approached online by a supposed romantic interest who eventually asked for money. SDG said it uses AI systems to monitor conversations for red flags, including money requests, explicit material and attempts to take a conversation off platform.
“Bad actors are constantly trying to target people on the internet,” an SDG spokesperson said. “SDG has strict rules governing the way people use its platforms and its relationship with affiliate partners. The group takes very seriously any allegations of wrongdoing or breaches of those rules and regulations. We use a range of enhanced verification and diverse monitoring to try to make our connections safe for the millions of people that use them. SDG has a history of cooperating with regulators and law enforcement where it sees evidence of wrongdoing.”
