Are There Fake Profiles and Bots on Badoo, and How Do You Spot Them?

Yes. Badoo has fake profiles, spam bots and scammers, the same as every large dating app. The fastest checks are whether she has the verified badge, whether her page has real detail and more than one photo, and whether she pushes you to leave the app or asks for money. Most real women will also agree to a short video call. Most fakes find a reason not to.

One dating site says fake and spammy profiles are still an active problem on Badoo, partly because signup is open and photo verification is not required. That is its explanation, not a number from Badoo, and we found no published count of how many accounts are fake.

Fake accounts do one of four jobs:

• Romance scams. She builds trust, then asks for money, gift cards or crypto.
• Phishing. She sends a link or tries to move you to a website outside the app.
• Catfishing. A real person's pictures are used to look more attractive than the owner.
• Bots and spam. Automated messages that sell a service or push a product.

Badoo started photo verification in 2016. You copy a specific pose in a selfie, and a moderator checks it. Reports from that launch say a review takes about a minute, that moderators recheck verified profiles from time to time, and that members could choose to chat only with verified people. At that launch, a profile that skipped verification could be hidden from those members.

Wikipedia's entry on Badoo also lists a Deception Detector that uses AI to find spam and fake profiles, and quotes a claim that the model can block 95% of scam accounts automatically. We could not check that figure, so do not count on it. Some fakes get through.

One more detail matters for men. Badoo's Selfie Request, where you ask a match for a selfie to confirm she looks like her photos, is only available to women. You can't use it, which is why the video call below matters.

We could not open Badoo's own help pages while writing this, so we have left out menu steps and button names. Open the app's Help section for the current steps.

1. The verified badge. A blue tick usually means she passed the selfie check. No tick doesn't make her fake, but it removes one layer of proof. If the app offers a verified-only filter, use it for a week and compare.
2. A thin page. Almost no detail about her life, vague answers, or nothing past a first name.
3. Only one or two photos, all polished. Model-style shots are the usual sign. Save one picture and run it through a reverse image search. Stock photos and celebrity pictures can show up this way.
4. Generic messages. The same opener to everyone, replies that ignore what you wrote, or odd phrasing that looks like a translation tool or a script.
5. A rush to leave Badoo. She wants your number, a messaging app or a link within a few messages.
6. Love too early. Strong affection before you have met is a standard scam move.
7. Excuses to avoid a call. Real women have busy weeks. They don't dodge a five-minute video call for weeks.

Send this once you've exchanged a few messages:

"I'd like to see who I'm talking to before we meet. Are you free for a quick video call this week?"

A real woman usually says yes, or suggests a time, or says she'd rather meet for a drink first. A fake tends to give a reason, then another reason. Two excuses in a row is your answer. You lose nothing by asking, and you can ask it nicely.

Don't negotiate. One line is enough:

"I don't send money to people I haven't met. Good luck."

Then block and report her in the app. Don't send money, gift cards or crypto, and don't give out your address, payment details or ID numbers. If she wants to move to another site or click a link, say "I'm happy to keep chatting here" and see what she does. A bot or scammer usually repeats the request.

• The message sells something or links somewhere.
• The same opener shows up for every man, with nothing about you in it.
• Her reply has nothing to do with what you wrote, or the wording reads like a script or a translation tool.

Not every thin page is a scam. Plenty of real women barely fill in a profile. So don't judge one signal alone. A woman with a short bio, a few different photos and a normal reply to your question is probably real. A woman with one model photo, a love message on day one and a request for a link is not.

Badoo's verification launch let members chat only with verified people, so finishing your own verification is worth doing. Use recent photos that show your face clearly, fill in a few lines about your life, and don't message every match with the same line.

Fakes are a cost of using the app, not a reason to skip it. If you run the checks above, you'll lose a few minutes per match and avoid a lot of the trouble. If your area looks full of fakes and few real women answer, treat that as the answer about Badoo where you live and put your time on an app that works there.