Scammers or soulmates? Wolverhampton shoppers tell us why they would - or wouldn't - use online dating in 2025

Online dating is a scary thing for many, a (fairly) new way of meeting potential suitors that can ease some of the fear of seeing your date for the first time face-to-face. 

On the bright side, online dating apps like Tinder, Bumble or Plenty of Fish give bachelors and bachelorettes the chance to 'vet' a person's looks and personality before actually meeting them physically.

On the darker side, however, online dating reduces a person to a mere profile picture - and in some of the worst circumstances - allows someone to pretend to be someone they aren't.

A report released by banking group Barclays said that one in 10 adults has, or knows someone who has, been targeted in a so-called 'romance scam' (in which the scammer pretends to be romantically interested in a victim in order to  gain their trust and ask for money).

The banking group also revealed that cruel romance scams were up by 20 per cent year-on-year and that victims lost £8,000 on average last year, increasing to £19,000 for those 61 and over. 

So, with romance scammers a clear threat when it comes to the online dating scene, we asked the question "is it really worth it?".