Someone made a fake dating profile with your photos. What to do.

1. How to find a fake profile using your photos

On Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, profiles are shown based on each user's location and preferences. There is no search by name, and search engines do not index the profiles. In practice:

1. Friends are your best early warning. If someone says "I saw you on Hinge," ask for screenshots of the whole profile: first name, age, bio, location and every photo. If they matched with it, keep the messages too.
2. Reverse image search has limits. Google Lens, Bing and TinEye cannot see inside the apps. They can find your photos on other public fake accounts (Instagram, Facebook, open dating sites). The full method is in our guide someone is using my photos.
3. Scam victims sometimes reach out. The FTC tells people to reverse-search a match's profile picture, so a suspicious match may trace "your" photo back to your real account. Take those messages seriously: they usually include the fake profile's name and the app.
4. Signing up just to look for the profile rarely works, since the app will only show it if it falls within your area and settings. Reporting with the details your friends give you works better.

2. Keep evidence before you report

Once reported, the profile disappears, and the evidence with it. First collect:

• dated screenshots of every photo and the bio;
• the name, age and location shown, and which app;
• any messages the fake profile sent, if a friend or victim forwards them;
• your original photos, which show they are yours.

3. Report the fake profile, app by app

Rules that apply everywhere:

1. Pick the impersonation or fake profile reason, not "spam" or "not interested."
2. The report has to come from you. Tinder and Hinge say they deal with the person being impersonated or someone authorized to act for them (a parent, a legal representative), not a friend. Your friend can still report the profile from inside the app.
3. Prove you are the person in the photos if the app asks, only through its official form or support. A "moderator" who messages you asking for your ID is a scammer.
4. Repeat on every app. A fake profile removed from Tinder can still be live on Bumble or Hinge.

For the fake social media accounts that often go with a fake dating profile, see fake profile: what to do, which also covers catfishing.

4. Match Group: does one report cover Tinder and Hinge?

Tinder and Hinge belong to the same company, Match Group, along with Match, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Meetic. Tinder's privacy policy says information is shared across Match Group apps so that a bad actor found on one can be banned from all of them. There is still no single report form for the whole group, and a February 2025 investigation (the Dating Apps Reporting Project, covered by NPR) found that banned users could set up new accounts on the same app or move to another one in the group. Report on every app where the profile shows up. Bumble is not part of Match Group.

5. When your photos are used in a romance scam

Romance scammers often steal real people's photos to build an attractive profile, then ask their matches for money. You are not responsible for what the scammer does, but you can limit the damage:

1. Post a warning on your real accounts saying a fake profile uses your photos and that you never ask for money.
2. Point victims to the right place: stop contact, keep evidence, call their bank, and report it. In the US, that means ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the FBI's IC3; in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud; in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101.
3. Never pay anyone who promises to "track down the scammer" or recover the money. These recovery scams often follow the first one.
4. If the fake profile spreads fake intimate images of you, or someone threatens you, follow our guides on fake nudes and sextortion. In the US, the TAKE IT DOWN Act requires platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images, including AI fakes, within 48 hours. If you are under 18, see our under-18 page.

6. What the law says

App rules ban impersonation and fake profiles everywhere, which is why a well-documented report usually works without going to court. The legal side depends on where you live. In the US, several states, including California and Texas, have online impersonation laws, and using a fake profile to get money is fraud. In the UK there is no single impersonation offence: depending on the facts, it may be fraud or harassment. In the EU, dating apps count as online platforms under the Digital Services Act and must handle notices of illegal content and offer an appeal. This page is general information, not legal advice: for a lawsuit, talk to a lawyer.