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The Federal Trade Commision sued Match Group for allegedly luring hundreds of thousands of soulmate-seeking singles into purchasing Match.com subscriptions through the use of bot profiles, fraudulent messages, and deceptive cancellation policies.
Creating an account is free, but seeing the juicy stuff will cost ya
According to the FTC, Match knowingly spammed nonpaying basic users with coyly packaged ads (“You caught his eye… Could he be the one?”) based on fraudulent messages from bots and other scammers.
And apparently the bots’ve got game: From 2016 to 2018, almost 500K users shelled out for paid subscriptions after receiving one of these misleading love notes — only to find themselves with a lighter wallet and an “account unavailable” message. …Ghosted by a robot. Ouch.
Despite these allegations, the match-making giant (which also owns dating sites Tinder and OkCupid among others) maintains its innocence, insisting the FTC’s claims are based on “cherry-picked data.”
The online dating jungle is ripe for scamming
As the multibillion-dollar online dating market continues to grow (even Facebook’s gotten in on the game), bad actors are finding more opportunities to prey upon open-minded minglers as they engage with faceless strangers, and it’s enough to break your heart.