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FTC sues Match Group Inc (owner of Match) for Catfishing their customers

AlTech
By AlTech
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The FTC is suing the owner of numerous online dating services, Match Group Inc, for Catfishing their customers.

 

The FTC is alleging that Match Group Inc conned customers into paying for subscriptions, exposed their customers to the risk of fraud, and engaged in unfair business practices.

 

Quote

The Federal Trade Commission sued online dating service Match Group, Inc. (Match), the owner of Match.com, Tinder, OKCupid, PlentyOfFish, and other dating sites, alleging that the company used fake love interest advertisements to trick hundreds of thousands of consumers into purchasing paid subscriptions on Match.com.

The agency also alleges that Match has unfairly exposed consumers to the risk of fraud and engaged in other allegedly deceptive and unfair practices. For instance, the FTC alleges Match offered false promises of “guarantees,” failed to provide services to consumers who unsuccessfully disputed charges, and made it difficult for users to cancel their subscriptions.

 

Quote

“We believe that Match.com conned people into paying for subscriptions via messages the company knew were from scammers,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Online dating services obviously shouldn’t be using romance scammers as a way to fatten their bottom line.”

 

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The FTC alleges that millions of contacts that generated Match’s “You caught his eye” notices came from accounts the company had already flagged as likely to be fraudulent. By contrast, Match prevented existing subscribers from receiving email communications from a suspected fraudulent account.

 

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Hundreds of thousands of consumers subscribed to Match.com shortly after receiving communications from fake profiles. According to the FTC’s complaint, from June 2016 to May 2018, for example, Match’s own analysis found that consumers purchased 499,691 subscriptions within 24 hours of receiving an advertisement touting a fraudulent communication.

 

After a lot of consumers complained the FTC voted on whether to file a complaint and the complaint has since been filed in Texas.

Quote

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 4-0-1, with Chairman Joseph Simons recused. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

 

It's actually quite scary when you realize that Match Group has a monopoly on the online dating services market. I'm glad they've decided to take action.

 

The fact that a dating services owner is being accused of catfishing their own customers is just a joke. The levels of irony here are unreal.

 

Sources:

FTC

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Posted

I knew something was fishy when she had an anime profile pic.

I didn't think 2D girls were real...

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11 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

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Posted

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

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Posted

Good, so many bots on those sites to entice desperate men into paying, ridiculous.

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3 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

Ah yes, the old "well there might be a couple bad people who use it so it must all be bad" argument.

 

There are bad people and nutters in the real world who go to real places like bars and clubs too, just in-case you weren't aware ;)

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1 minute ago, Lurick said:

Ah yes, the old "well there are bad people who use it so it must all be bad" argument.

I studied internet dataing sites when I was at uni for a discovery project. Internet dating is a cesspool of weirdos and predators.

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3 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

I met my girlfriend in a dating app, we're both pretty level-headed (I'd like to think, at least!) and we've been steady and happy for a good long time.

 

Online dating is fine on a basic level.  The problem, as I see it, is that people have to be a lot pickier than they'd care to admit.  A lot of bad dates come down to "they're pretty and we have a couple things in common," but you need to find someone who you really click with, where the sparks are flying fairly quickly.  And yes, there are a lot of people who basically don't know how to be human.

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4 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

Easy: I met my fiancee on POF. She's neither a predator, nor a weirdo, nor someone looking to shoot up a university campus.

 

For younger people, online dating often doesn't hold much value - and that's because you're constantly thrust into situations where you meet new people of interest that significantly widens your dating pool.

 

Once you're done school, that dating pool shrinks massively. You can only date so many of the people in your personal friends group, and dating people from work is mixed at best (and ultimately the same problem arises - there are only so many potential candidates at work too).

4 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

Those people could have easily met at a bar or club instead, and the end result would have been the same.

52 minutes ago, Bacon soup said:

I studied internet dataing sites when I was at uni for a discovery project. Internet dating is a cesspool of weirdos and predators.

Bars and clubs are cesspools of weirdos and predators.

 

Yeah there are weirdos on online dating. There are also weirdos at bars and clubs. There are weirdos at conventions. There are weirdos at Friday Night Magic. There are weirdos everywhere.

 

There are also lots of normal people everywhere too - including online dating.

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5 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Great for ons and takes less effort compared to going at a night club

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5 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

It's not because you or a weirdo had a date gone very wrong that everyone had that experience...

 

Idiots are everywhere, everywhere where you can get attention, there will be at least one idiot. That's just how the world works.

 

Also this screams 'MUURICAAA because where I live (or any other first world country) people don't shoot schools, the only thing that happens around here is a fake bomb threat but that's usually to sneak out of an exam or something.

 

But hey you do you, online dating can be wonderful if you watch out for red flags.

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2 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

Also this screams 'MUURICAAA because where I live (or any other first world country) people don't shoot schools, the only thing that happens around here is a fake bomb threat but that's usually to sneak out of an exam or something.

 

Its in NZ. I was told his facebook was that of a wanna-be gangster idiot, which I believe is an American sub-culture.

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Posted

I am not sure if I am qualified to say much of anything about this, given my mixed feelings on the idea of online dating.

 

But what catches my eye is the fact that Match Group has full vertical control of the pop online dating scene, which is unsettling. Sure, there are dating scenes outside of the Match Group, but since they tend to focus on very specific niches and interests, they are an acquired taste to say the least and require a level of trust of the service(s) that most people (for fair reasons) cannot muster.

Read the community standards; it's like a guide on how to not be a moron.

 

Gerdauf's Law: Each and every human being, without exception, is the direct carbon copy of the types of people that he/she bitterly opposes.

Remember, calling facts opinions does not ever make the facts opinions, no matter what nonsense you pull.

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2 minutes ago, Colonel_Gerdauf said:

I am not sure if I am qualified to say much of anything about this, given my mixed feelings on the idea of online dating.

 

But what catches my eye is the fact that Match Group has full vertical control of the major dating scene, which is unsettling. Sure, there are dating scenes outside of the Match Group, but since they focus on very specific niches and interests, they are an acquired taste to say the least and require a level of trust of the service(s) that most people (for fair reasons) cannot muster.

I have no problem with online dating in general - but it's becoming very clear that sooner or later, governments are going to need to step in and start regulating these companies to a degree, to protect personal information, combat scammers, etc, and to ensure that the company (or in this case, the parent company that owns most of the big players) does not abuse it's position of power.

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5 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

I know a significant amount of people who have found their significant other from online dating and are extremely happy. Yeah you obviously have to go through some bad dates but that is usually the case anyways. I would choose online dating over a bar any day of the week tbh mostly because I am not much of a drinker. 

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3 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

I have no problem with online dating in general - but it's becoming very clear that sooner or later, governments are going to need to step in and start regulating these companies to a degree, to protect personal information, combat scammers, etc, and to ensure that the company (or in this case, the parent company that owns most of the big players) does not abuse it's position of power.

There, you run into another issue of trust; there are some who do not like the idea of Big Brother being in the middle of a transaction. Those people tend to not care at all about whether or not this "spying/intervention" is for the better of the service or if the regulations are needed to keep things in check, as it flies into the face of their ancap beliefs that the best businesses are those that are completely left alone by the Governments.

Read the community standards; it's like a guide on how to not be a moron.

 

Gerdauf's Law: Each and every human being, without exception, is the direct carbon copy of the types of people that he/she bitterly opposes.

Remember, calling facts opinions does not ever make the facts opinions, no matter what nonsense you pull.

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5 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

I'm a left wing androgynous guy living in Alabama. The odds of finding people like me without online dating are basically 0.

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Just now, poochyena said:

I'm a left wing androgynous guy living in Alabama. The odds of finding people like me without online dating are basically 0.

this is not changing my mind. We cannot enable left wing androgynoids to find breeding partners :P

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4 minutes ago, poochyena said:

I'm a left wing androgynous guy living in Alabama. The odds of finding people like me without online dating are basically 0.

Press 'F' to pay respects.

Read the community standards; it's like a guide on how to not be a moron.

 

Gerdauf's Law: Each and every human being, without exception, is the direct carbon copy of the types of people that he/she bitterly opposes.

Remember, calling facts opinions does not ever make the facts opinions, no matter what nonsense you pull.

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Posted

It would be nice for you guys if the FTC could invest as much time in protecting ISP customers from being conned (you know, like monopolies and bully boy ISP practices).

 

 

Grammar and spelling is not indicative of intelligence/knowledge.  Not having the same opinion does not always mean lack of understanding.  

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8 hours ago, Bacon soup said:

Online dating is a bad idea, change my mind.

 

Had a security lock down at my local uni last weekend. Tinder date went wrong for one of the residents in the uni flats. Someone on the security team looked the guy up on facebook to get a photo to share around the team. The guy was posting about shooting up the uni. Dont know what the cops did about that but it shows there are some real nutters on dating sites.

i met my girlfriend in an mmo does that count? and she lives in the UK so dont have to worry about her shooting up schools 

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31 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

i met my girlfriend in an mmo does that count? and she lives in the UK so dont have to worry about her shooting up schools 

An MMO is online, and therefore is a subset of "online dating".

 

The fact is that when people say "online dating doesn't work", or "is for losers", or "is a bad idea"... they're just wrong.

 

Dating in general - online or in person, can result in both good and bad outcomes.

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On topic: I seen this happen a mile away. Tinder is known for this especially when you have pictures of people looking like models and have in the background some European plugs or brick like structures in the background (Which you will not find anywhere here in California).

 

I fell into the match.com one. Where you think the person is actually interested in you, but as soon as you pay the subscription the messages stop or they have no interest. 

 

Off topic: I met some crazy women on online dating. To pathological liars (Didn't know what it meant at the time) to girls that want to maximize attention being on them. Online dating you have to actively search and patiently wait. Been on many dates, and I am happy with the person I am with today. 

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Most of these dating sites are catfishing anyway.

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All I can say is Fuck. Them. if they actually did this.

 

That's just fucking cruel.

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