Scammers are using Tinder to target lovelorn Irish singletons with dodgy sweet nothings as Gaeilge, the Irish Mirror can reveal.
Customers warned that the cruel hoaxers don’t have the cupla focal to continue the ruse when their targets respond in Irish so the fake accounts go cold.
Sources told the Irish Mirror that the bogus users urge genuine ones to move their private chat from Tinder to services like WhatsApp – contrary to Tinder rules.
Irish Tinder customers claim the dating app is beset by these scams, with some fake accounts linked to Asia, despite users in Ireland applying distance filters.
Some customers fear that the dodgy accounts are part of a coordinated social data mining operation to gather genuine users’ personal information.
The Irish Mirror contacted Tinder about complaints from Irish users who have called for Tinder to block fake accounts.
A spokeswoman said that Tinder “urges users to keep conversations on Tinder” and said it will look into the matters raised.
Meanwhile, a source said: "There's no shortage of these bots on dating apps and you always recognise them straight away.
“When they match with you, they'll send you an instant greeting, usually an emoji or something.
“Then they'll start asking you generic questions about where you're from, what you do, that kind of thing.
“The language is unnatural and easy to spot that there's something off.
“But when they started moving into Irish, I thought it was funny and liked a few of them to see how far they could take it.
“The poor bots seemed to have learned their Irish off Peig. When I responded to their 'dia dhuit' greeting with 'aon sceal', the bot didn't reply and just unmatched.
“I don't know what the end game of these transactions is, but I've heard it's an attempt to train artificial intelligence in believable interactions with humans.
“It's a bit ridiculous, but you do wonder how many desperate lads might have been taken in by a pretty Asian girl showing interest in him.”
One of the messages that was sent to an Irish Tinder user was described by a natural Irish speaker as “not complete gobbledegook, but a bit nonsensical”.
The scammer’s message translated as: “If you walk alone for long enough, you'll be tired.
“There will be someone with you in the warm winter sun [to] bring a cup of steaming green tea and you will grow.”
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