If you have ever wondered whether the charming stranger you have been messaging for weeks on a dating app is real, a report from the AI company Anthropic just gave that worry a solid basis. In September 2026, Anthropic said it had uncovered a network of more than 20 dating apps in which most of the profiles you could see were not people at all. They were AI characters, powered by Anthropic's own Claude, and the apps did not tell users.
What Anthropic found. According to the report, a China-based app studio built the network. Across the apps Anthropic investigated, about 75% of the profiles shown to users were AI-generated. Over just two weeks in April 2026, more than 4,700 of these fake identities chatted with at least 25,000 people, exchanging roughly 2.36 million messages. The apps were advertised as fully human.
How the scheme made money. Messaging and matching ran on a limited quota. When it ran out, you had to buy more in-app coins to keep talking. In other words, people were paying to keep a conversation going with a machine they believed was a person. The AI was reportedly told not to reveal it was automated, and the system tracked how suspicious each user seemed. When a real person was not available, it could make up things like likes, visitors and pre-recorded videos. Human workers, roughly one for every three AI personas, stepped in mainly for video calls and social media follow-backs.
How it got past the app stores. Anthropic says the apps showed Apple's and Google's reviewers a clean, compliant version, then switched on the deceptive features after approval. So "it is in the App Store" is not proof that an app is honest.
What Anthropic did. It banned the accounts and organizations involved and shared its findings with Apple, Google and other AI companies whose tools were also used.
What this means for you. This is a report about one network. It does not mean every dating app is fake, and it does not prove any specific app you use is involved. But the pattern is worth knowing:
- Being asked to pay to keep chatting. If a match is lovely but the app charges coins or credits to reply to that specific person, be careful.
- A match who is always available. Instant replies at every hour, and messages that feel very warm very quickly, can be a sign.
- Reluctance to video chat. If a video call keeps getting postponed, take that seriously. Note that scammers can also use deepfakes, so a video call is a good sign, not a guarantee.
- Any request for money, gift cards or crypto. That is a scam no matter who, or what, is on the other end. If you have already sent money, see what to do if you sent money to a scammer.
If you suspect a profile, do not buy coins to unlock its messages, and report it to both the app and the app store. For a fuller walkthrough of the warning signs, read our guide to AI romance scams on dating apps.