Tea, an app designed to help women find “red flag men” and catch scammers, was hacked after it went viral this week.
The app announced in a social media statement on Friday that it had discovered “unauthorized access to archived data systems.” The data system included an estimated 72,000 users rusted images, including 13,000 selfie images. Some of them included photo IDs submitted during the account verification.
Additionally, we also got access to 59,000 images that can be published on the app from posts, comments and direct messages from over two years ago. The data is stored to meet law enforcement standards for bullying prevention, the company said.
“We act quickly and work with our most trusted cybersecurity experts,” the statement said. “We are taking every step to protect this community.”
According to the statement, data from users who have signed up for TEA since February 2024 is safe.
A few days after apps surged to the top of Apple’s US App Store, the news of the hacks comes. TEA, which sells itself as a dating safety app for women, can anonymously post photos of men users are dating, consider dating and measure other people’s experiences.
Verified as a woman (men are not allowed), users can even visit a national posting forum and set alerts on the male’s names to check fraud reports. The app has safety tools like background checks, catfish image searches, sex offender screening, and phone number searches.
The app raised concerns about privacy violations, as women do not require the man’s permission to post photos.