Find out if your partner is cheating on you or if he is registered on a dating site? This is the promise of several sites. As reported by 404media, these platforms use facial recognition to allow partners, or any other more or less well-intentioned person, to discover specific Tinder profiles.
Normally, it is not possible to search for a specific person on Tinder. Instead, Tinder offers users potential matches based on their own physical location. But that was before.
The sites discovered by the investigative media allow any Internet user to search for a person’s profile by uploading a photo of their face. Worse yet, these tools reveal that person’s approximate physical location.
Hidden ads
This is, for example, the case of Cheater Buster, ex-Swipe Buster. Simply enter the name, age, gender, and geographic area where the target person is located. The site, thanks to facial recognition, offers a list of profiles that can match the photo. The results also show a list of people with similar names and ages in case the information is slightly inaccurate.
For a monthly fee of around $20, “anyone can use this service, it’s open to everyone. All you need is an Internet connection and a valid email address,” Cheater Buster’s FAQ says. Same principle for Cheat Eye, which also uses facial recognition.
In recent weeks, videos promoting these sites have been legion on Instagram and Tiktok. In a video, a woman takes the test live… and discovers that her boyfriend has had a Tinder account since 2023. The publication on Tiktok is close to a million views. In another, a woman confronts her husband after discovering his profile through Cheater Buster.
While some reviews are honest, other content creators are simply paid. The Cheater Buster affiliate program offers $9.99 for each referred paid subscriber. The site also pays $40 per 100,000 views. One user claimed to have discovered more than 80 “hoaxes” around her… without ever mentioning that it was an ad.
“Facial recognition managed to find the flaws in their databases. It just appeared,” says another influencer in another possible product placement, while the screen shows several blurry photos of what is presented as a man’s Tinder profile.
Protection of data and malicious users
And that’s the whole problem. Because behind the promise of finally knowing the truth about your partner, a darker matter hides. These tools constitute a clear invasion of privacy. These sites appear to rely on information from Tinder profiles. But this data is generally not accessible through the classic dating app. They also provide the position, almost in real time, of the target.
Above all, these sites can be dangerous for Internet users trying to escape a violent ex-partner or stalker. A malicious individual could use these tools to find the direction of a previous relationship and damage it.
Several promotional messages were also shared in the “Are we dating the same guy?” Facebook groups, used by women to report dangerous profiles on dating apps.
For its part, Tinder claims to have no connection with Cheater Buster or CheatEye. “Not only do we not authorize this practice, but it is in total contradiction with our policies,” says a spokesperson. “We know that users trust us with their personal information to help them build meaningful relationships. We do not take this lightly.” However, Cheater Buster has been around since 2016 and doesn’t seem to have been bothered.
Source: BFM TV
