Love is in the air for the 1,000-plus U.S. online dating sites that make up the profitable industry. According to a recent Time/CNN article, Jupiter Research reported the online dating market cashed in $649 million in revenue in 2006 alone!

But as Internet cupids look to tap into the fertile China and India dating markets to grow business profits, cybercriminals searching match-making sites are posing greater threats as they become increasingly more professional and sophisticated in their tactics. Scambusters.com has recognized this emerging trend in its annual predictions of worst Internet scams. For this first time, “Online Dating Scams” drops in at No. 8 on this year’s Top 10 scams to avoid in 2008. With online dating scams on the rise, now is the time for match-making sites to put a priority on protecting their online businesses by finding and blocking scammers from their site, and subsequently, providing a safer environment for their members.

Online dating fraud and abuse was a hot topic at this week’s Internet Dating Conference in Miami. If you would like to learn more about what was discussed at the show and how match-making sites are joining forces to reduce harmful online fraud and abuse, register to attend iovation’s post-conference webinar on Tuesday, February 19th.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 5:24 am and is filed under Financial Services, Online Communities, Online Retail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.