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U.S. Lawsuits Allege Dating Sites Committing Fraud
Two separate lawsuits, each seeking class action status, have been launched in the United States. The substance of each claim is that an Internet dating website is committing fraud on its members.
The two services under attack are Match.com and Yahoo. The claim against Match.com in the U.S. District Court in Northern California alleges that its employees approach members whose subscriptions are about to expire in an attempt to trick them into renewing their memberships by giving them false hope (i.e. fake expressions of interest and email messages). The claim goes further to allege that Match.com’s employees are required to go on actual dates and that they are stationed in most major U.S. cities. Match.com has denied these allegations. The plaintiff claims that he learned about these practices from a Match.com employee that he dated.
The claim against Yahoo was brought in Florida. It alleges that Yahoo creates and posts false profiles. These postings allegedly make the site more attractive to online daters and falsely represents that more substantial participation exists.
One can question whether it is economically viable for these companies to perpetrate this type of fraud, considering the size of their subscriber base and the actual profit derived from an individual subscriber.
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