27 October 2025
– The hidden connection between online dating scams, disinformation, and financial crime.
Dating scams have long been a highly profitable “business,” fueled by a vast market and the frequent underreporting of fraud to authorities due to the sensitive nature of the activity. Qurium’s investigation uncovers the full ecosystem of actors involved in these scams and reveals how dating fraud, disinformation campaigns, and financial crime are interconnected — all operating through the same infrastructure and often orchestrated by the same individuals.
In the investigation “When Kehr Meets VexTrio,” Qurium linked the actors of Doppelganger disinformation campaign to Los Pollos. Today’s investigation, “Catfish Incorporated: How the Dating Scam Industry Works” provides compelling evidence that Los Pollos plays a central role in the dating scam industry as well and that our initial findings were merely the tip of the iceberg.
Furthermore, the investigation leads us to Cupid — once the largest online dating operator in history, with a global market presence. Cupid officially shut down most of its “casual dating” services in 2013 after being exposed for fraud, having used a team of Ukrainian women to pose as potential dates. The company’s infrastructure was later sold to NSI Holdings Ltd, whose new owners claimed they would no longer engage in the dating industry. However, our investigation reveals that NSI Holdings Ltd (now Antheia Services Limited) never truly abandoned its deceptive operations; instead, it has continued running dating scams since 2013 — merely rebranded under a different name and corporate identity.
“Whether it’s dating scams, disinformation campaigns, nutrition cons, or Bitcoin frauds — they are big business, and they all operate under the same principles: using affiliate marketing to lure victims and traffic distribution systems (TDS) to direct them to specific offers. To stop this kind of organized crime, the actors behind it must be exposed.” says Tord Lundström, Qurium’s Executive Director.
Contacts
Digital forensics: Tord Lundström <t at virtualroad.org> Technical Director
Media: Clara Zid <info at virtualroad.org> Media and Outreach Manager