“Sup Tayla.”
It was the simple greeting that unearthed a web of romance and money scams which would change 28-year-old Monica’s online footprint forever.
The Sydney woman’s image had been misappropriated for fake social media accounts, as scammers sought to dupe unsuspecting users and fleece them of their hard-earned money.
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In one instance, Monica’s photo was used on the dating app Tinder, in a fake profile which purported to be a romantic hopeful named Tayla.
A shocked Monica found out about the fraudulent account only when a friend happened to spot it — leaving Monica to have to try to unravel the counterfeit profile.
“The whole thing was really strange,” she tells 7Life about discovering that her image was being published without her consent.
“But at the same time, it had the potential to ruin my life.”
Monica says she grew up in an age where “there was no real internet security, and no parental restrictions”.
“I guess I never imagined why I would need to keep my account (Instagram) private,” she says.
So when she opened a private message on Instagram from an old friend, she was confused.
The friend cheekily greeted Monica as ‘Tayla’, and attached a screenshot of a Tinder dating profile.
The profile showed Monica’s face but described the user as Tayla, a 26-year-old woman from the western Sydney suburb of Penrith.
Initially, Monica, who was not on Tinder, found the profile imitation amusing.
But reality quickly set in.
“At first I was like, ‘Ha ha, so funny, this is clearly not me’,” Monica says, who has been in a relationship since 2020.
“(But) it scared me because I didn’t want my partner to think I was cheating on him and using Tinder with a different name.”
Monica explained the situation to her boyfriend, who was immediately understanding.
Relieved, she replied to the friend who had sent her the Instagram message.
The friend followed up by sending her a detailed video of the fraudulent dating profile.
It then dawned on Monica that someone had copied her photos from her Instagram account and used them to create the fake Tinder profile.
At the time, her Instagram profile — which had fewer than 1,000 followers and which she utilised for updates with friends and family — was a public account, meaning anyone could access it.
Reporting to Tinder
Because she was not on Tinder, Monica asked her friend to report the fake account to the dating app’s administrators, which he did.
She then uploaded a screenshot of the fraudulent Tinder profile to her Instagram, and asked if any of her friends who used the dating app would also report the account.
To her shock, numerous friends revealed they had seen the account before.
Piecing together everyone’s stories, Monica estimated the sham dating profile had been active for six months.
“It was the fact that people were matching with Tayla,” she says of her main concern.
“Like, what if I ran into someone in real life and they said, ‘Hey I matched with you on Tinder’.”
The unknowns began to haunt Monica.
She had no idea who was behind Tayla or what was the intention behind the fake dating profile.
Was it part of a larger romance money scheme? Or was the account just trying to “mess with her”?
As the days ticked by, several friends confirmed they had reported to Tinder that the account was fraudulent and requested it be removed.
Additionally, Monica contacted Tinder customer support, eager to have the account deleted.
However, it still remained active.
One of Monica’s girlfriends then created a false Tinder account herself and, with Monica’s guidance, they tried to match with Tayla and spark up a conversation.
But whoever was behind the account never responded.
Desperate, Monica reached out to a private Facebook group specifically created to keep women safe on online dating platforms.
There, she received more than 50 comments from women providing advice and support.
A woman also supplied an email address of a Tinder customer support worker, whom Monica reached out to straight away — as did two other close friends.
Within hours, the fake account was taken down.
“Obviously I was so happy, but we still don’t know why or who (set it up),” she says.
“And I can’t believe it was up for so long and my friends saw Tayla on there and didn’t ask me.
“They knew I was in a relationship.”
With the fraudulent profile removed from the dating app, Monica was relieved.
But she then realised her Instagram images had actually been used inappropriately before.
Instagram fake
Monica’s first brush with sham social media happened when her Instagram images were used to create a fake Instagram account.
That account befriended everyone on Monica’s friend list before blocking Monica herself, meaning she was oblivious to what was going on.
The scammer uploaded a number of Monica’s photos before adding a link in her bio — which took users to an adults-only site.
The site requested credit card details before allowing the visitor to enter and view the material advertised.
The ‘bot’ website was fraudulent, set up to collect people’s personal financial details and to scam money from unsuspecting victims.
One of Monica’s friends quickly notified her of the fake account and Instagram shut it down.
However, before it was removed, she noticed a bunch of her friends had befriended the scam account.
“Nobody told me if they had lost money,” she says, adding the fake profile could also have taken details from others who weren’t her friends.
Privacy settings
Monica now realises the importance of cyber security, and has adopted strict privacy settings.
And the 28-year-old is urging everyone to be vigilant with their social media.
If you suspect a profile is fake, she says, you should immediately contact the person it is imitating.
“Reach out to people and ask them if the account is actually them,” she says.
“If all of the posts are made in the one day, it’s a clear sign the profile is fake.”
She says you never think you are going to be the victim of fraudulent activity online.
“Like, I am not an influencer, I am not that important,” she says.
“But I guess that’s what scammers want — they go after normal people.”
Tinder responds
Tinder told 7Life it has a zero tolerance policy on fraudulent profiles.
“Fake profiles are a violation of our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use,” Tinder says, adding it is constantly monitoring the platform for suspicious profiles.
“If someone believes they are being impersonated on Tinder, they should contact our support team with relevant details.
“From there, our team will promptly search for and remove any matching profile.
“Additionally, we encourage our users to look for the ‘blue tick’, which indicates that the user’s profile has been verified by Tinder, via ID + Photo Verification.”
Tinder says it also encourages users to report any suspicious profiles.
“You can report anyone regardless of whether you’ve matched with them or not, and can select from a number of reasons, including a fake profile,” Tinder told 7Life.
For more Tinder safety tips, visit the Dating Safety Guide.
Instagram recommends
- Set up two-factor authentication — it’s simple to do and adds a second layer of protection to your account, by sharing a notification whenever there’s an attempt to access your account. To find out more about setting up two-factor authentication (or 2FA) on Facebook or Instagram.
- Protect your personal information at all times — never share your personal information, such as your ID documents, payment login details or passwords.
- Look out for suspicious behaviour, links, emails or messages — if in doubt, don’t click or respond. Take action and report your suspicions via our Facebook or Instagram help centres or report it to the police.
