Key Takeaways

To boost engagement and in-app purchases, nothing beats authentic ingenuity and innovation. A Korean dating app company recently learned this the hard way. 

TechLabs, a Korean dating app company, is facing thousands of dollars in fines for allegedly creating fake profiles to generate real revenue on two of its dating apps, Amanda and NeorangNarang. 

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission fined the company 52 million won ($38,000) for violating the country’s Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce. 

Between October 2021 and April 2022, men were allegedly duped into thinking they’d received legitimate interest from women on Amanda and NeorangNarang. In reality, these “women” were fake accounts created by TechLabs employees. 

The 65,000+ Users Are Not The Only Victims  

It’s easier than it seems to fall for a fraud on a dating app. Just ask the 65,000 users, most likely based in South Korea, who discovered this for themselves: 1,137 male users fell victim to the fake profiles on Amanda, and 64,768 male users had the same fate on NeorangNarang. 

Don’t be fooled by the comparatively low number on Amanda, however; TechLabs allegedly posted 982 messages and 4,990 comments on Amanda’s anonymous “Secret Square” board, and sent an unknown number of “likes” and “secret match” requests to male users. 

The profiles were strategically placed in various places on the dating apps and made a lasting impression under the guise of authentic romantic interest. 

The male users who created genuine connections with these fake profiles aren’t the only victims, either. 

Hundreds of women recently made the discomfiting discovery that their photos were used to create over 270 fake profiles on Amanda and NeorangNarang. The photos, which were used without the women’s consent, were allegedly taken from another TechLab-operated dating app in Taiwan. 

These profiles not only used the women’s likenesses without their permission but also allegedly used the photos to create “ideal” matches by inventing fake personality quirks and characteristics. 

TechLabs employees are believed to have manipulated the age, height, location, body type, and education descriptions for these profiles in ways that would generate the most interest among male users.  

It Was All A Ploy To Boost Engagement 

The scheme was simple: Men on the app would send “ribbons” and “hearts” — in-app currencies that users must pay to use — to women on the app, without realizing that the “women” were really fake profiles created by the app company to generate engagement and boost revenue. 

Falling engagement is not only a hot-button issue at Amanda and NeorangNarang, but at dating apps around the world. In some cases, the problem stems from the unequal male-to-female ratio on dating apps (there are usually far more men than women).

In fact, in 2023 Pew found that more men (34%) than women (27%) have ever used dating apps, and 41% of surveyed men and only 29% of surveyed women pay to use dating sites or apps. 

In the same study, 64% of men reported feeling insecure about their nearly empty inboxes on dating apps. 

TechLabs, no doubt picking up on this trend, created these fake profiles to give men the likes, ribbons, and hearts they crave. 

TechLabs is Suffering the Consequences — For Now 

TechLabs employees were allegedly given fake quotas that corresponded to fake profile activity. It’s worth noting that these employees are believed to have been acting under orders from TechLabs. 

In addition to the hefty fines, TechLabs has also been ordered to tell its consumers about the fine. If it complies, it will be the second time TechLab app users receive such a notification.

In September 2024, the company was fined 220 million won ($165, 712) by South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission, again for using people’s photos without their permission. The commission described TechLabs’ actions at the time as a “deeply grave violation” and reported TechLabs to the police.

For now, the app company is suffering the financial consequences of its actions. Whether positive change will come from the police report or from this most recent fine remains to be seen.