Balancing Digital Safety and Innovation

Three years after her husband died, Alice joined a dating app. The platform, driven by advanced algorithms, prides itself on being able to connect people who might never meet otherwise. Alice soon began chatting with Jim, who lived across the country. He empathized with Alice’s grief and loneliness because he’d recently lost his partner too. Six months after they connected on the app, Jim was laid off. He became deeply depressed. He fell into debt. Alice tried her best to console him. She even sent him money. But a few days after her check was cashed, Alice was devastated to discover that Jim had deactivated his account. After a police investigation, she learned that Jim wasn’t real: Scammers had crafted a persona to exploit her—and she wasn’t the only victim. The scammers targeted vulnerable users, exploiting the very ease and scale that made the service so appealing and innovative.