I joined an online dating app looking for connection, friendship, and love. What I found was a registered sex offender. 

I was raped by a man I matched with on a dating site operated by Match Group. I was in shock – I would never have thought that a predator would be allowed on a dating site. 

But I soon learned that while Match Group has agreed to remove sex offenders from sites like Match.com, they don’t screen for them on any free dating site that they own – including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and more. 

The more than 10 million Americans using dating sites are just a swipe away from a sexual predator. 

The man who raped me had been held for over two and a half years in county jail. When he was released, he went back on Plenty of Fish looking for more women to attack. And that’s exactly what happened. Shortly after matching with this man, another woman reported to police that she had been raped by him. 

Match Group has created a feeding ground for heinous sexual predators, and we are the bait. 

So I took matters into my own hands. I spent weeks of my life searching for his profile. I finally found my attacker and took screenshots of his profile to send to the site operator. They never responded. I had already lost so much of my life to this man, and I was tired of doing Match Group’s job for them. 

Meeting online is now the most popular way couples connect. We expect that when we put ourselves on these apps in hopes of finding connection, companies have done the bare minimum to keep us safe. But that’s not the case. Match Group is allowing anyone their apps – and it’s dangerous and reckless. 

It’s time to demand that Match Group step up to protect its users. Join me in telling the company to start screening for sexual predators on all of their dating platforms.