I've been on Kommons for about two years now, and honestly? It's the one question I get asked most by mates thinking about joining: "Aren't there loads of fake profiles?" Fair question. Dating apps have a reputation problem when it comes to catfishing, and smaller platforms like Kommons don't always get the benefit of the doubt.
So I did what I do with everything—dug into it properly. Spent time looking at how Kommons handles verification, talked to people on the platform, reported dodgy profiles, and kept tabs on what actually happens versus what bigger apps promise. The honest answer? It's more nuanced than you'd think, and in some ways, Kommons does better than you'd expect from a smaller casual dating app.
What I've Actually Seen on Kommons
Let's start with the reality check. Yes, there are fake profiles on Kommons. I won't pretend otherwise. In two years, I've spotted maybe a dozen genuinely fake accounts—mostly bots, a couple of catfishers, and a handful of what looked like scam profiles fishing for either cash or personal info.
But here's the thing: the proportion feels lower than on bigger apps. On Tinder or Bumble, I'd match with someone obviously fake roughly every 20-30 matches. On Kommons, it's maybe one in 50-60. That might sound like a small difference, but when you're actually using the app, it makes a noticeable difference to the overall experience.
The fake profiles I've encountered fall into a few categories. The most common are low-effort bot accounts—usually with single photos stolen from Instagram, generic bios, and profiles that match with absolutely everyone. There are a few catfisher types—people using stolen photos or pictures from years ago, and they usually vanish once you try to video call or move to WhatsApp. And then there's the occasional scam profile, which I report immediately.
What I haven't really seen much of on Kommons are the highly sophisticated catfishing operations. The ones where someone builds an entire fake persona over weeks. That's more of a Tinder problem, honestly. Whether that's because Kommons' smaller user base makes it harder to sustain, or because they're doing better at catching them—probably both—but it matters in practice.
How Kommons Actually Handles Verification
When I joined Kommons, I was surprised they took verification seriously. Most smaller apps don't bother, figuring moderation costs money and they can't compete with the big players anyway. Kommons doesn't have the same resources as Match Group, but they've clearly thought about this.
The platform uses photo verification—you take a selfie and it's compared against your uploaded photos using basic AI. It's not foolproof, but it works. I've had to do it, and so has every legit person I've matched with on Kommons. You don't need it to create an account, but if you want your profile to be taken seriously (and get more matches), verification helps.
Beyond that, Kommons has a straightforward reporting system. You can flag profiles for being fake, for catfishing, for inappropriate behaviour—whatever. And here's what I've noticed: they actually act on reports. I've reported five profiles in two years. All five disappeared within 48 hours, usually within 24. That's faster than Tinder's been in my experience.
They also seem to monitor for patterns. Profiles that spam, bot-like accounts that match indiscriminately, anything that looks off—they get caught. I'm not claiming Kommons has cracked some impossible problem, but for a smaller app, the moderation is genuinely decent.
The community aspect helps too. Because Kommons has a smaller user base in the UK, people talk. If someone's obviously catfishing or running a scam, word spreads quickly. That creates natural pressure on bad actors to keep their games tighter, or they'll get reported fast. It's not a feature Kommons advertises, but it works.
How Kommons Compares to Bigger Apps
Here's where it gets interesting. Kommons isn't Tinder or Bumble. They don't have the same scale, and they don't pretend to. But in some ways, that's an advantage when it comes to fake profiles.
On Tinder or Bumble, volume is the business model. Millions of users, many of them inactive or fake, all driving engagement metrics. They want you swiping, and some of that swiping is against fake accounts. It's not in their financial interest to eliminate all fake profiles—some low-level of fakes keeps people on the app longer, keeps the engagement up.
Kommons operates differently. They've built a reputation on being a more trustworthy UK casual dating app, and fake profiles actively damage that reputation. Their incentive structure is better aligned with actually removing fakes, not just managing them.
That said, Kommons doesn't have the AI infrastructure that Tinder and Match Group do. Tinder has years of training data on what fake profiles look like. Their algorithms are scary good at catching them. But they also have millions of profiles to monitor, so even with great tech, fakes slip through.
Kommons has smaller numbers, which makes human moderation actually feasible. It's not sexy—AI sounds better in investor meetings—but it works. I'd say the net result is that your odds of matching with a fake profile on Kommons are genuinely lower than on the big apps.
Red Flags I Look For (And You Should Too)
Knowing what to spot yourself matters more than trusting the platform, honestly. Here's what I do when I'm checking someone's profile on Kommons—and this applies to any app, really.
First: photos. Catfishers and bots usually have just one or two photos. Real people have multiple, varied ones. If someone has only professional headshots or only gym selfies, that's a yellow flag. If all their photos are from the same angle or same day, question mark. And if you reverse image search a photo and it comes up elsewhere online? That's it, you're done.
Second: the bio. Bots have generic ones—"Looking for something real," "No drama," copy-paste stuff. Catfishers often have detailed bios because they're building a persona, but they're usually too perfect or too buttoned up. Real people are messier. Their bios are specific to them, even if they're just a joke or a quote.
Third: response patterns. If someone on Kommons messages you immediately after you match, at all hours, with minimal content—"Hey gorgeous," "What's up baby,"—they might be a bot or catfisher working through matches mechanically. Real conversation has rhythm to it.
Fourth: video calls. If someone's reluctant to video call or FaceTime, that's telling. Not definitive—some people are camera shy—but combined with other flags, it matters. Most real people on Kommons will do a quick video within a few days of matching.
Fifth: payment or personal info. If anyone asks for money, bank details, or wants to move off Kommons to sketchy external platforms, stop. That's either a scammer or someone up to no good.
What to Do If You Encounter a Fake Profile
When you spot a fake on Kommons, report it. Use the reporting feature—it's straightforward. Flag it as fake, catfishing, or whatever applies. Kommons actually reads these and acts on them quickly, as I mentioned. You're helping both yourself and the community by reporting.
Don't match with them to "catch them out" or confront them. That's wasting your time and potentially giving them engagement they're chasing. Just unmatch and report.
And if you've been talking to someone and become suspicious, it's okay to ask directly. "Want to video call?" is a perfectly reasonable ask on a dating app. If they dodge it multiple times, you have your answer. Trust your gut.
I've ended a handful of conversations on Kommons because something felt off, even if I couldn't quite identify what. That's fine. The whole point is to actually meet real people, so if someone's not coming across as genuine, move on.
Why Kommons' Smaller Size Actually Helps
This might sound counterintuitive, but bear with me. Kommons being smaller than Tinder or Bumble is genuinely an advantage when it comes to fake profiles.
First, the user overlap. Kommons users tend to be UK-based and specifically interested in casual dating on that platform. If you see a profile that matches with someone you know isn't real, or if it's using photos of someone local who's actually on Instagram, it gets noticed fast. People talk. Kommons has a real community feel compared to the impersonal scale of the big apps.
Second, the financial incentive. Kommons isn't backed by massive investor money demanding growth-at-all-costs. They're not trading off user safety for engagement metrics. If fake profiles damage the user experience, they lose paying users and their reputation takes a hit. That's direct feedback, and it actually drives better moderation decisions.
Third, human moderation is practical. With a smaller user base, Kommons can actually afford to have people reviewing reports and monitoring trends. It's not as sexy as machine learning, but it catches things AI would miss—context, nuance, patterns that don't fit an algorithm's training data.
Finally, there's less to scam at scale. Scammers target big apps because there are millions of potential victims. On Kommons, if someone tries running a romance scam or catfishing operation, they'll burn through the available userbase quickly and get reported. The payoff isn't worth the effort for most bad actors.
My Honest Take
After two years on Kommons, I can honestly say it's better for fake profiles than bigger apps. That's not because it's perfect—no dating app is. It's because the incentives are aligned with actually making it safe, the moderation is responsive, and the community is engaged enough that bad actors don't thrive.
There are still fakes, and you still need to use common sense. But the proportion is lower, the response time is faster, and the overall vibe is that Kommons actually cares about the problem rather than managing it as a cost of doing business.
For casual dating in the UK, that matters. Kommons has built something worth using, and they're protecting it. That's the opposite of how bigger apps operate, and it shows in the experience.
If you're on the fence about joining because you're worried about catfishers and fakes—fair concern. But based on what I've seen, Kommons is one of the safer options out there. Just use the same common sense you'd use anywhere else, and you'll be fine.