Dating Safety Report 2025: How Safe Is Online Dating Where You Live?
Online dating should feel safe. Often it does not. Scammers play on hope, steal money, and break trust. The Dating Safety Report 2025 looks at real risk, not hype. It shows where danger grows, how fraud works, and what signs people miss.
This year the report adds the Dating Safety Index (DSI). One clear score shows safety at a glance. You can see how each U.S. state ranks. You also see how the U.S. compares with other regions. The goal is simple: clear facts you can use.
The report comes from Peggy Bolcoa, author and relationship expert. Her focus is people first—less fear, more care, smarter choices. This page gives the gist. For full data, methods, and the full state list, get the PDF.
What Is The Dating Safety Index (Dsi) And Why It’s Different
The Dating Safety Index (DSI) is one clear score from 0 to 10. Higher means safer. It turns messy safety data into a simple number you can trust.
- The score blends six parts, each set on the same 0–10 scale:
- general crime (lower crime lifts the score)
- scam complaints from users
- fraud risk and losses
- human rights protections
- legal safety for daters, including visitors
- culture and stigma around online dating
Each part has equal weight. Bad factors flip so they don’t hide real risk. Then all parts average to the final score. Bands make it easy: 0–3 risky, 4–6 moderate, 7–10 safe.
What makes it stand out: open data, plain math, and a method you can check. Sources include the FTC, IC3, Freedom House, Pew, Numbeo, and more. The same rules apply to every place, so state and region results line up in a fair way.
What you get: a fast read on safety where you live or plan to date, plus a clean way to compare across states and regions. It turns talk into facts you can use.
How Your State Stacks Up (U.S. Snapshot)
The U.S. sits at a DSI average of 7.4, which counts as safe. But scores vary a lot by state.
- Safest five: Maine 7.9; Connecticut 7.8; New Hampshire 7.8; New Jersey 7.8; Idaho 7.7. These states pair low crime with fewer scam reports per person.
- Lowest five: Alaska 6.7; New Mexico 6.9; Louisiana 7.1; Tennessee 7.1; Arizona 7.1. Higher crime or heavy fraud losses pull these scores down.
- Scam hot spots by volume: Florida and California post the most imposter-scam reports nationwide, driven by large populations and active app use.
Want the details? The report shows each state’s crime rate, scam rate per million, median loss, and the final DSI score so you can see where your home state lands.
How The U.S. Compares Globally
The U.S. sits in the safe range with a DSI of 7.4. Europe is close at 7.5. Asia averages 5.9. South America averages 5.7. Safe beats moderate, but the gap is not huge.
Where the U.S. looks strong: firm consumer rules and steady privacy norms. That keeps some scams in check and helps recovery when fraud hits. Europe has a similar edge thanks to GDPR rules and low victim rates. The UK is a watch point, with reports up 20% in early 2025.
Asia shows mixed results. East Asia has low crime, yet scam hubs and tight data rules drag the score. South America fights high crime and app-linked violence in some cities. These factors keep both regions in the moderate band.
Country standouts help frame it. Japan 8.3 and Germany 8.1 are very safe. The UK 7.6 and Spain 7.9 are solid. Chile 6.7 sits mid-pack. Russia 4.0 and China 3.5 mark the low end.
Big picture: the U.S. tracks Europe, ahead of Asia and South America, but still faces high total losses. Smart habits still matter everywhere.
Scam Trends By The Numbers
Romance fraud still costs a lot. In 2024, U.S. losses reached $823 million. The report notes that most victims sit in mid-life. Scam groups in Southeast Asia now hit users worldwide.
Law-enforcement tallies back this up. IC3 recorded 17,910 romance-scam reports in 2024 and $672 million in losses. FTC counted 845,806 imposter-scam reports and $2.95 billion in losses in 2024; romance scams fall inside that larger bucket.
Where scams start, by channel: Facebook/Instagram 28–29%, dating apps 19%, WhatsApp/Telegram 15%, other routes 37% (email, calls, DMs). Many chats move to private messengers before any money ask.
Keep in mind, totals likely run higher. The report cites low report rates of 4–7% among victims. So real harm may be far above official counts.
Online dating promises connection, but without safeguards, it risks heartbreak and harm.