I came across a press release stating that “Match.com, a unit of IAC/Interactive Corp., is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees. In some instances, the suit contends, people on the Match payroll even went on sham dates with subscribers as a marketing ploy.”
H. Scott Leviant, a lawyer at Los Angeles law firm Arias, Ozzello & Gignac LLP, which brought the suit:
“This is a grossly fraudulent practice that Match.com is engaged in…Match promotes the policies of integrity to protect members, and yet they themselves, we allege, are misleading their entire customer base.”
In a separate suit, Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO – news)’s personals service is accused of posting profiles of fictitious potential dating partners on its Web site to make it look as though many more singles subscribe to the service than actually do. Yahoo is accused with breach of contract, fraud and unfair trade practices.
Yahoo posting fictitious profiles? If they are responsible for all the fake Russian bride profiles on the site, they certainly deserve to be raked over the legal coals. But for some reason, I have a difficult time thinking Yahoo is responsible for the fakery.
The Match suit plaintiff claims a Match employee went out with him to make sure he didn’t cancel his subscription. Talk about viral marketing! This is a classic, however I would be shocked if the allegations are true. Come to think of it, if I were a Match employee out on brand-oprtecting viral dating, I’d be asking for some serious overtime.
They would do better to leave the viral marketing to the experts and hire BzzAgent to have their bevy of “associates” out and about talking up the dating services instead of using company employees after-hours.
The news is sure to give legal counsel at major dating sites something to think about over the weekend.
The release mentions RICO, the organized crime-fighting tool as a possible legal tool.
[tags: match.com, yahoo personals]
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Hey all –
PLENTYOFFISH.com
Why?
Because it’s TOTALLY FREE. Yes, I’m telling the truth. No, I don’t work for them. No, there are no catches.
Will you instantly get women flocking to date you?
Probably not.
But I bet you’ll have a good experience. And you can’t beat the price!
As for pay sites, FASTCUPID.com is great. The profiles attract a more intelligent, select crowd. (Bad if you’re dumb; good if you’re selective.)
Best of all, you pay a small fee for each email you send. Like mailing a letter. And it’s FREE to read and respond to any mail you receive. I once paid maybe $10 to buy credits, and even after sending out several emails, I still have tons of credits left. Great site.
Enjoy!
i agree with a lot of what i’m reading,but i got to say..i really agree with robin…i find that on many dating sites i’m on.i seem to get email from men who claim to be working in africa,yet say they’re from the USA….but see i’m not one to trust too much of anything without hard proof..so i question them,what kind of music do you like.they usually only know one artist from a certain catagory,and i’m thinking no matter what race you are…if you live or lived in the USA you’ve heard of so many singers…so i basically tell they to step!…and i don’t pay for any site because like some of you guys said..i do notice when i leave the site i get so many emails saying..this person want so meet you,etc..i’m like…too damn bad!
I follow a strict NO Paid Subscription policy, but have visited enough on-line dating services over the past decade to quickly spot amusing confidence rackets. From the overt russian brides and nigerian scams, to time wasting free-to-join/pay-to-play crap, to phony email teases. All bill themselves as the best dating service, all inflate membership counts and all offer rudimentary flawed selection/search options. Were it not for suckers being born every minute, they couldn’t afford the bandwidth. Most just play the odds, and so don’t care if 99.9% of people don’t fall for the cons.
Amateurmatch.com seems to be the most overt abuser of the email tease. If you google the shell company -Deniro Marketing- you’ll find it fronts for a wide range of useless dating services. It seems to benefit from an affiliate web cam site that has its girls blindly send out teases. Most of the girls (or posers) don’t even bother to read member bios. From the poor way they write, maybe they can’t read, either. Some are dumb enough to use photos imprinted with said web cam URL. Can we say preying on the gullible?
Other sites to avoid – LuvOO (a pink sheet stock that’s also involved in scammy herbal remedies), AdultFriendFinder, FastCupid, Go4Friendship, Kiwi, LoveHappens, Lurve(now defunct?), Matchmaker, Mate1, PlentyofFish, Swoon, TRUE, LuvCuve and WebDate.
Kinda surprised nobody lauds what may be the only legit site out there… OKCupid.com
FYI- Several collegians launched it using a unique business model: totally free – from joining to posting pictures to real time instant messaging to email. This results in a lot of user participation/contribution. They’ve begun accepting donations, recently snagged some venture capital. Maybe it’ll degenerate into a moneygrubbing site eventually or maybe they’ll keep improving, such as offering a background check. All I can say is that I’ve seen no spam, pop ups, or scams in over a year. It’s the only site where I have encountered real females. No soul mates or beauty queens yet, but many above average. Not just for daters, it can serve as a networking platform for hobbyists, travel companions, etc.
Allowing users to post detailed bios and photos, answer an array of questions and have the house computer calculate match quotients using proprietary algorithms (nice explanation in FAQs) and criteria, as well as to communicate amongst themselves at no cost actually works. Most scam artists and prostitutes won’t invest the time it takes to fill out a profile or answer OKCupid’s initial questions, although it’s hardly as onerous a task as eHarmony’s grueling, costly hurdles.
I’m looking for people that want to sue Horny Matches.com… I got convincent proofs…
fedegog@hotmail.com
somebody want to sue an norvegian guy who exploited a site with fraudulent practise in asia
fbi will get convincent proofs
Go to hell Robert, Christian A. and eugen!
they are scams….. I threatened them with a class action lawsuit and private investigation, not to mention telling the internet community about their scam and they refunded my money. I WIN! Don’t be suckered by these free profile accounts! If you can’t send messages back for free then it’s a scam especially if it’s beautiful girls messaging you……..
I have also seen too many scams on eharmony.com. They claim a free member can go through their Guided service for free. But it is every time I tried. I kept repeatedly getting asked to send it. Over & over again. It did not go through. And I keep getting directed to registering to a paid subscription. I will be honest. I don’t see how ehqarmony gets high ratings. They are nothing but a bunch of scam artists. Be careful of eharmony as well. I hope this helps.
If there is any dough in your thinking that there are NOT women and even men with many, many profiles designed to lure the lonely and (for lack of a better word) horny with deception and lies to line their pockets without any remorse or mercy for the wreckage left behind, I challenge you to do this…First go to datinggold.com and see how organised this farse has become and who the major dating sites are. Then create a mans profile with a new email address. Visit just one of these dating sites just once then sit back and let the forces of evil share with each other your information then believe if you can what smooth operators they are. And last imagine you come from a world where trust comes easy and lonelyness is wieghing heavy on you. And at last realise how crule and immoral we have become….for money
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