Scamalytics Identify Stolen Celebrity Identities Being Used by Online Dating Scammers

LONDON, January 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Romance scams are a form of online fraud whereby a scammer will assume a fake identity on an online dating site for the purposes of fraudulently obtaining money from unsuspecting users of that dating site.

Scamalytics - a security company specialising in the prevention of fraud on dating websites - have identified the most frequently used celebrity photos, stolen by fraudsters, and used across a wide range of unrelated dating websites by romance scammers.

The list includes high-ranking military officials, actors, pornstars, and former Miss World titleholders.

Scamalytics have developed image recognition technology that, together with an extensive blacklist of photos used by known scammers, can identify dating fraudsters just by the photos they upload.

"As an anti-fraud company we aim to analyse as much relevant data as possible" said Scamalytics co-founder Dan Winchester. "Analysing photos is a natural next step for us. We are picking up more fraud faster by identifying scammers from their photos before they even go live on a dating site."

"Reputable online dating companies are keener than ever to clamp down on fake profiles created by scammers, and we are now even more effective in helping our clients prevent these fake profiles from ever appearing on their websites."

The full list of celebrities, with photos used and a description of the nature of the scam can be found on the Scamalytics website:

http://www.scamalytics.com/top-10-celebrity-scammers.html

An abbreviated list appears below:

(1) Tamannaah Bhatia (Bollywood Actress)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamannaah

(2) Konstantinos "Kostas" Martakis (Greek Singer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostas_Martakis

(3) Melissa Harrington (Pornstar)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Harrington

(4) Priyanka Chopra (Miss World, Bollywood Actress)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priyanka_Chopra

(5) Anushka Shetty (Bollywood Actress)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anushka_Shetty

(6) Raven Riley (Pornstar)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Riley

(7) Lieutenant-General Andrew Brooke Leslie (Canadian Forces)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Leslie_%28general%29

(8) Mikie Hara (Actress)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikie_Hara

(9) Anne Julia Hagen (Miss Germany)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Julia_Hagen

(10) Alodia Gosiengfiao (Filipina Celebrity)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alodia_Gosiengfiao

About Scamalytics

Scamalytics, based in London UK, maintain the largest shared anti-fraud blacklists specifically dedicated to the online dating industry. Founded by a group of industry veterans, the team have years of experience in both detecting scammers, and in applying the latest artificial intelligence techniques to make sense of user behaviour on dating sites. Scamalytics specialise in detecting all types of dating fraud including romance scams, chargeback fraud, affiliate fraud, camgirl fraud, redirection fraud.

http://www.scamalytics.com