Online dating service using fake profiles to encourage premium memberships
lacroyx
Posts: 5,754 Member
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ftc-rules-online-dating-service-fake-profiles-article-1.1992269
The Federal Trade Commission has ruled against its first online dating service for using fake, computer-generated dating profiles to encourage consumers to pay up for premium memberships. The only indication that the pictured profile is a fake is a small ‘v’ encircled by a ‘C’ pointed out by the FTC here with an arrow.
article from link: The Federal Trade Commission has ruled against its first online dating service for using fake, computer-generated dating profiles to encourage consumers to pay up for premium memberships.
JDI Dating Ltd., an England-based company, will instead be paying $616,165 as part of a settlement, and will be prohibited from using the fake profiles the FTC announced Wednesday.
"JDI Dating used fake profiles to make people think they were hearing from real love interests and to trick them into upgrading to paid memberships," said Jessica Rich, the agency's director for the bureau of consumer protection in an announcement. "Adding insult to injury, users were charged automatically to renew their subscriptions -- often without their consent."
According to the FTC's complaint the company's dating websites, such as Flirtcrowd.com and Findmelove.com, do not outline anywhere that their premium subscriptions automatically renew at the end of a chosen term and do not disclose further charges to a consumer unless they take steps to cancel their subscription. The packages disclosed in the complaint ranged from $22.72 for a month-to-month plan up to $101.04 for a 12-month plan. Canceling required a 48-hour notice, which was reported to be buried in a "Terms and Conditions" section that consumers were not required to read during the enrollment process.
Free membership allowed for setting up a profile and limited communication to other users. The complaint, however, reports that free members are often lured into signing up for a premium subscription by being told that they have received communication from fake "Virtual Cupid" profiles, luring them to pay to see these messages.
"The profiles of these Virtual Cupids frequently contain photographs and personal information mimicking real people, and the Virtual Cupids often appear to reside in the same geographic area as the consumer," the complaint says.
The only indication that consumers were given to designate these profiles as fakes were a small "v" encircled by a "C," which the FTC says would be very easy to misunderstand as a real person.
The FTC is encouraging anyone with a complaint about an online dating site to report it to the agency at ftc.gov/complaint.
interesting...wonder if any of the bigger ones in the US are doing the same thing.
The Federal Trade Commission has ruled against its first online dating service for using fake, computer-generated dating profiles to encourage consumers to pay up for premium memberships. The only indication that the pictured profile is a fake is a small ‘v’ encircled by a ‘C’ pointed out by the FTC here with an arrow.
article from link: The Federal Trade Commission has ruled against its first online dating service for using fake, computer-generated dating profiles to encourage consumers to pay up for premium memberships.
JDI Dating Ltd., an England-based company, will instead be paying $616,165 as part of a settlement, and will be prohibited from using the fake profiles the FTC announced Wednesday.
"JDI Dating used fake profiles to make people think they were hearing from real love interests and to trick them into upgrading to paid memberships," said Jessica Rich, the agency's director for the bureau of consumer protection in an announcement. "Adding insult to injury, users were charged automatically to renew their subscriptions -- often without their consent."
According to the FTC's complaint the company's dating websites, such as Flirtcrowd.com and Findmelove.com, do not outline anywhere that their premium subscriptions automatically renew at the end of a chosen term and do not disclose further charges to a consumer unless they take steps to cancel their subscription. The packages disclosed in the complaint ranged from $22.72 for a month-to-month plan up to $101.04 for a 12-month plan. Canceling required a 48-hour notice, which was reported to be buried in a "Terms and Conditions" section that consumers were not required to read during the enrollment process.
Free membership allowed for setting up a profile and limited communication to other users. The complaint, however, reports that free members are often lured into signing up for a premium subscription by being told that they have received communication from fake "Virtual Cupid" profiles, luring them to pay to see these messages.
"The profiles of these Virtual Cupids frequently contain photographs and personal information mimicking real people, and the Virtual Cupids often appear to reside in the same geographic area as the consumer," the complaint says.
The only indication that consumers were given to designate these profiles as fakes were a small "v" encircled by a "C," which the FTC says would be very easy to misunderstand as a real person.
The FTC is encouraging anyone with a complaint about an online dating site to report it to the agency at ftc.gov/complaint.
interesting...wonder if any of the bigger ones in the US are doing the same thing.
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that is one of the things I don't like about pay site. It is usually when your subscription is coming to an end that you get all the matches.0
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MissingMinnesota wrote: »that is one of the things I don't like about pay site. It is usually when your subscription is coming to an end that you get all the matches.
the pay site I use (Match) gives me at least 5 matches at least four days/week........this time....wasn't so lucky in the past, so maybe they have changed to give more matches more consistently
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Interesting! I always wonder about stuff like this. I went to email one person and the website told me that "this user only accepts emails from paid subscribers" .. didn't make sense to me. Why would you pay for a free site to begin with, but then not talk to anyone that doesn't pay too. Was weird.1
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I always wondered about this, On match.com I would try to look at a profile, within minutes after they winked or showed an interest, and would get the message that the profile is no longer available.
Between this and the Nigerian scammers, I'm fed up with on-line dating. Guess it's time to become a bar wench...lol0 -
MissingMinnesota wrote: »that is one of the things I don't like about pay site. It is usually when your subscription is coming to an end that you get all the matches.
the pay site I use (Match) gives me at least 5 matches at least four days/week........this time....wasn't so lucky in the past, so maybe they have changed to give more matches more consistently
Oh it gives me "matches" daily but all of a sudden you get messages and winks when your subscription is expiring when I haven't been active and haven't gotten anything in over a month.0 -
I noticed this a couple years ago when I got some great looking guys winking at me just as my subscription ran out!! Definitely fake!! And totally immoral!!
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I always find that guys talk more on the free sites anyway. Is that because people who pay don't think they should have to do any of the work? Or is there really no one legit? Could be both I guess!0
