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At least 270 women 'liking' men's dating app profiles were actually bots, FTC finds

Published: 29 May. 2025, 19:11

Comments written by fake female users on dating apps run by Techlabs [SCREEN CAPTURE]

It wasn't an urban myth: A dating app company has been sanctioned by Korea's antitrust regulator for creating fake female profiles to encourage male users to spend money on in-app currency.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced Thursday that it fined Techlabs, the operator of dating apps Amanda and NeorangNarang, 52 million won ($38,000) for violating the Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce. The FTC also ordered the company to notify users of the sanction.

Between October 2021 and April 2022, Techlabs allegedly created fake female accounts on Amanda and NeorangNarang to attract male users to use the service.

Amanda and NeorangNarang operate on paid in-app currencies called “ribbons” and “hearts,” which users spend to send friend requests or view other users’ profiles.

An investigation revealed that the company created more than 270 fabricated female profiles to address the gender imbalance — a common issue in dating apps with relatively few female users — and to encourage male user activity.

The two apps once boasted a combined user base of around 10 million, but the investigation found that declining app download rankings and user engagement led the company to carry out the deceptive campaign.

Techlabs used photos of real female users from a separate dating app it operates in Taiwan without consent and added fabricated information such as age, height, location, education and body type to generate the fake profiles.

Online dating apps [SHUTTERSTOCK]

These profiles were then used as part of a “male user care” strategy to encourage men to interact more actively.

On Amanda, the fake accounts viewed or expressed interest in the profiles of 1,137 male users. On NeorangNarang, that figure was 64,768. Male users received app push notifications when they were liked by these accounts.

In addition, Techlabs used fake female profiles to post 982 messages and 4,990 comments on an anonymous board within the Amanda app called “Secret Square.” These accounts also sent “likes” and “secret match” requests — a feature that indicates interest — to male users.

The investigation also found that Techlabs assigned quotas for fake profile activity to its employees, including those who were male.

In a separate case last September, Techlabs was fined 220 million won by the Personal Information Protection Commission for unauthorized use of profile photos.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]