Although it has fewer complaints than its competitors, the beloved dating platform Bumble still deals with the “fake profile” issue.

Fake Bumble profiles are a hindrance for the 50+ million active users trying to find love on the app—since eliminating every single scammer isn’t possible, we have to fend for ourselves.

Although we can learn plenty from a bot’s behavior, it’s essential to know all the signs of a fake Bumble profile!

– Is the Bumble dating app safe?

3 in 4 four survey respondents in Research by AIC experienced sexual violence enabled via dating platforms.

We need to conduct background checks when using dating apps.

All in all, Bumble is a safe dating app because of the many measures users can take to keep themselves secure while online dating.

• Bumble bans users from displaying weapons, hate speech, sexual harassment, and other vile behavior on their profiles. It has recently rolled out Deception Detector which helps weed out sham profiles and it’s available in Bumble And Bumble For Friends.

It has a photo-verification procedure which upon completion, users get a badge confirming they are real.

We need to play our part too in safe online dating, though! This is how you can tell a fake Bumble profile:

1. Fake profiles on Bumble aren’t usually verified.

The Bumble verification process is reviewed by a real person on Bumble’s team, making it problematic for catfishes to bypass it.

If you started talking to a match on Bumble, check if their profile has a verification badge.

• If you’re a verified account yourself, you can request for your match to verify their account.

2. They always have an excuse as to why they can’t video chat!

On their page, Bumble encourages users to use their video chat feature before meeting people—which is an excellent idea.

Keep asking your match to video-chat: if they always cook up some silly excuse and cancel at the last minute, they might be operating a fake Bumble profile.

3. Malicious catfishes and bots on Bumble are overly flirty or sexual.

Because a lot of dating app users are looking for romance (or something on the side), scammers have adopted this bold, overly flirty, and sexual persona.

Their hypersexuality (e.g. insisting you click a link to access their nudes) and tendency to over-compliment you are signs that this person is trying to make you fall for their trap.

4. They say they’re madly in love with you (even though you two just met)!

If your Bumble match starts professing their love within 15 minutes of meeting you, run. It’s a rule of thumb.

They’re telling you something that you want to hear and that’ll encourage you to do a specific action, like giving out your credit card number.

5. Their replies are speedy but don’t make any sense.

If your Bumble match is typing long paragraphs and sending them to you all within a second, then they’re A) a bot, or B) a scammer stealing prompts.

Other than the speed at which they respond, look at how they respond! Do their replies make absolutely zero sense?

E.g. you ask them where they live, and they reply with something like, “You’re hilarious! I’ve never met someone like you. By the way, here’s my phone number.”

• Also keep an eye out for constant typos, irregular speech, and too many emojis (spread-out words, incorrect usage of letters, sexual emojis, etc.).

6. They want to move your conversation to other platforms…immediately.

Here we have scammers trying to gain valuable, personal information about their victims (like their phone numbers and social media accounts).

Although there’s nothing abnormal about asking for a person’s social media after getting to know them better, doing so from the beginning is a red flag.

7. They refuse to meet you in person/they’re very eager to do so.

If your Bumble match doesn’t want to meet up with you, they could be prioritizing their own safety, however, if it’s been a while and you two have even established a relationship, not seeing each other in person is suspicious.

This suggests that your Bumble partner has been lying to you about their identity.

And if they want to meet up ASAP right after meeting you, do not accept—they could be dangerous.

8. They don’t share important, basic details of their life.

They constantly take and learn information about you, but give nothing back—people with fake profiles on Bumble do this because they’re lying.

I want you to ask yourself this: “Do I know anything about this person? Like what their name is, what they work, or where they live?”.

9. There are no candid photos on their profiles, only professional ones.

• Their Bumble profile mainly consists of low-quality, professional pictures (most likely of a famous person)—if their profile has no photos, though, or at least no photos of their face, there’s still a possibility it’s fake.

Catfish pictures are quite easy to detect! Just look for pictures that are low-resolution and look too good to be true!

10. They ask you for money-related favors!

Probably for your credit card info or just straight-up gifts—actually, they’re trying to scam that information out of you by pretending to be someone else.

Stage 2 is asking you for money in the hopes that their little con has worked; if not a scammer, you’re dealing with a gold digger.

11. They’re literally too perfect to be true.

When we think about it, if a person is using pictures of a really attractive person who claims to be famous and leading the most interesting life, are they real? Probably not.

Objectively attractive individuals’ photos are commonly used by catfishes to capture their victims’ attention, so you could be getting catfished.

12. Fake Bumble profiles don’t have plausible bios or other information.

It’s usually something like, “Looking for fun! I am a woman. Add me on [virus link]”.

• If their bio contains links or sexual content, then trust your gut and don’t interact with that user.

The same goes if they haven’t made any information available (e.g. the place they live in, their education, or job).

13. People with fake accounts on Bumble love sending links.

Scammers sell believable narratives, like telling you to add their phone number, social media profile, or other platforms.

14. Bumble catfishes often contradict themselves.

It’s like saying they live in a city one time, and a different city another time—their constant lying makes them contradict themselves.

Watch out for inconsistencies! If a person always changes their narrative (about what they work, where they live, etc.) then their profile is fake.

– How to expose a fake Bumble profile?

Outsmarting a catfish is no easy work, but this wouldn’t be an issue if it were.

These are the tricks you can use to expose fake Bumble users, just make sure to pick a fitting method:

– Ask them to start a video call.

We can confirm a person’s identity thanks to Bumble’s video-chatting feature.

Ask your match if it’d be okay to have a video chat together—if they don’t want to, they might be a catfish.

– To eliminate the possibility of them being a bot, use specific prompts!

Ask them something nonsensical:

“Is stormy weather your favorite snack on your sleep?”

If the Bumble user is real, they’ll be confused and ask you what you meant by that—a bot will bug out or carry on saying something completely unrelated.

– Search the name they gave you on SwindlerBuster website

You can use our website to scan profiles to see if they are fake or not via SwindlerBuster

If they’ve stolen another person’s identity, then the actual person’s social media accounts and photos should come up.

– Search their selfies on Google Lens.

Another way you can use Google to expose a Bumble catfish is by reverse-searching their images on Google Lens!

Go to the Google search bar and upload their image by clicking on the camera icon.

– Don’t ignore the signs.

If you feel something is wrong, don’t ignore it—no matter how small it is, your subconscious mind is noticing something.

Analyze your match’s behavior for any suspicious signs, like the ones I mentioned.

What to do after encountering a fake Bumble account?

To prevent yourself and other Bumble users from getting hurt, do the following:

• 1. Report the fake account. On their profile, scroll down and tap the Hide & Report or Unmatch & Report buttons—after that, choose your reason for reporting that specific user.
• 2. Do not disclose sensitive information like names. Unless you’ve done everything you could to verify they’re real (like reverse image searching or finding their real socials), do not give out any details.
• 3. Do not agree to meet IRL, at least not without confirming they’re harmless. No matter how desperate they are to see you in person, never accept unless you’re 100% certain your Bumble match is not a threat.

Even if you do decide to meet them, always pick public, familiar places, have a friend with you, and never hop inside their vehicle.

Take care and swipe safely!