The FTC needs to come down hard on this. Extremely hard.
This isn't just a trick, it's outright fraud. They're playing with people's emotions and not just giving them nothing - they're abusing people's most basic need of feeling loved.
Think about how vulnerable people become when they're searching for love. And then this corporate giant comes in with an army of psychologists, A/B tests, and analysts to figure out how to best extract their pound of flesh and offer nothing in return.
Forgive me for saying this, but fuck Match.com. The FTC should evaporate half their liquid assets / market cap in fines.
Imagine having that much influence over the reproductive habits of the masses. It's pretty dystopian, given how normalized(and some would say required) online dating has become.
I successfully used Okcupid and I have been dating someone local. I am confident my current relationship is not a scam.
The fake accounts were rather obvious, extremely attractive women that would message, or send a like without having looked at profile. Many of the fake accounts were obviously not suitable matches. For example, the profile (if filled out) is seeking someone in country X, but they've contacted my in country Y.
I also noted some accounts would initiate contact and then account would disappear. I am not sure, but I suspect the host website is taking some efforts to combat problems.
I'm delighted the FTC is taking action, but I think the people that fall for these scams will always fall for the scams. It's hard to protect the vulnerable.
Lastly, if anyone is looking at online dating. Do your research, there is plenty of available information that explain the majority of the scams and detail what to look out for.
In this case it's very easy to protect the vulnerable. It's called "dont implement fraudulent business practices." This, by the way, also affects people who aren't particularly vulnerable because people should, ideally, be permitted a level of trust in a business without being completely naive.
There used to be a loophole where you could change your age and gender to be an 18 year old woman, pay the lowest (pretty much token) rate, and then switch back to your actual age and, if necessary, gender. Now I think it looks at your history of age and gender changes, finds the combo with the highest rate, and charges that group's amount.
I don't think there's a problem with honestly offering a promotional feature. Personal responsibility still counts. If you want to pay to get your face out there, you deserve the right.
However, if you've ever used any of these sites with a profile in a sparsely populated rural zip code, it's a pretty grim situation and I can see how fake profiles could arguably make people feel better than having absolutely nothing to even swipe on.
If the fake profiles don't go beyond just filler status, i.e. they don't reply to messages and lead people on, it doesn't strike me as that big of a deal. It's just more like entertainment and time wasting than anything actually helping you find a mate. But if you live somewhere literally devoid of eligible candidates, it's not like the dating web site (or anything other than moving) can fix that.
This isn't just a trick, it's outright fraud. They're playing with people's emotions and not just giving them nothing - they're abusing people's most basic need of feeling loved.
Think about how vulnerable people become when they're searching for love. And then this corporate giant comes in with an army of psychologists, A/B tests, and analysts to figure out how to best extract their pound of flesh and offer nothing in return.
Forgive me for saying this, but fuck Match.com. The FTC should evaporate half their liquid assets / market cap in fines.