Tinder swipes left on catfish: Dating app now lets US and UK users scan their passport or driver’s license to confirm their identity

Parents may have once been warned against talking to strangers on the Internet.

But dating apps are now one of the most common ways for couples around the world to meet.

Matching with strangers still has its downsides, including the risk of being ‘catfished’.

But help is at hand as Tinder has launched new verification tools in Britain and the US that allow users to scan their passport or driver’s license to confirm their identity.

“Giving users more confidence that their matches are authentic is one of the most valuable things we can do for our users,” said Rory Kozoll, SVP Product Integrity at Tinder.

Starting this spring in the UK and Brazil and summer in the US and Mexico, users will be able to get their blue check mark by submitting both a video selfie and an image of their ID

Catfishing has been a problem for online dating for as long as the internet has existed.

In fact, research from ExpressVPN shows that as many as 22 percent of Brits have fallen victim to catfishing in their lifetime.

Part of the reason this has become common is how easy it can be to create a fake account on many dating apps.

Without the use of ID or video verification, scammers have easily been able to take photos from social media or even Google images to create fictional personalities.

However, Tinder says the new verification system will make dating safer for people on the app.

Expanding on the existing video verification option, users are now invited to scan a valid driver’s license or passport.

Tinder says the new option will be rolled out to users in the UK and Brazil from the spring, while users in the US and Mexico will have access to the new option from the summer.

And Tinder says there is good incentive to go through this process.

According to its own statistics, when this feature was tested in Australia and New Zealand last year, verified accounts saw a 67 percent increase in matches.

Pamela Zaballa, CEO of domestic and sexual violence charity NO MORE, said: ‘People want to feel safe and confident when they connect and communicate with their matches.’

“We applaud Tinder for offering users this additional option to help confirm that their match is the person in their profile.”

Tinder says the new measures will make the app more secure and verified users will get more matches

To get your account verified – and get a blue checkmark like on Twitter – select the ‘Verify your profile’ option on your profile page.

You will then be asked to choose between photo or photo and ID verification.

You will then be required to provide a video selfie and a photo of a government-issued ID to be verified.

This provides confirmation of important details such as date of birth and similarity.

Users who only complete the video verification will get a blue camera icon, and users who complete only the ID verification will get a blue ID.

Only those users who have both photo and identity verification will see a blue check mark next to their profile.

This update follows the highly publicized scandals of a handful of particularly prolific Tinder scammers.

Most notably, so-called ‘Tinder Swindler’ Shimon Heyada Hayut has defrauded women of around £7.4 million in total by pretending to be a multi-millionaire.

However, Tinder hopes this will make it safer for users to meet in the real world.

Ted Bunch, head of development at educational charity A Call To Men, said: ‘We believe ID verification is an important tool that users can use to help prove they are the person in their photos and provide peace of mind when decision to meet someone outside the app.’