Online Dating Sites Investigated

An investigation, led by the Channel Four team, has revealed the hidden tactics used by online dating sites, duping its victims into parting with their hard earned cash in the belief that they will meet their ‘soul mate’

The truth is that these online dating sites have been stringing along the unsuspecting public for the last two decades in a bid to make millions… and they have succeeded! 

Global Personals, one of the UK’s largest internet dating sites makes 40 million a year and runs over 7000 spin off sites and yet customers have never heard of them. This is because Global Personals runs dating websites on behalf of other companies. So, whether the online dating site you have joined states that it is specifically for the single parent, jazz lover or the over 50’s, your details will be pooled into the mainframe database headed by Global personals and your personal details could go anywhere!  Act with caution! You could be inundated with unwanted advances.

The Channel Four team discovered that some online dating companies employ people known as Pseudos, whose sole job it is to steal photos from social networking sites, invent and run fake profiles, and keep members paying by flirting with them. As many as 400 messages can be sent an hour in a bid to increase revenue. Members will keep paying on this basis for months and even years, without a chance of any relationship developing. It’s simple ‘Pseudo’ talk!

A former employee of Global Personals, Ryan, described to Channel Four News that it was a full-scale deception and said, “It’s all about stringing them along on tenterhooks with that pretence that eventually they’ll meet up, or just swap telephone numbers. But as soon as that comes into play you move on; you tell them you’re not going to be on the dating site any longer. There were loads of cop-outs you could use.”

The programme interviewed Jenny, who registered with just singleparent.com. She is a single mother and simply wanted to meet other like-minded individuals, in similar circumstances, in the hope that she would find love. Unfortunately, (unbeknown to Jenny), once she had signed up, her details were passed onto many other dating sites, some disturbingly crude, and not at all the type of site she would have signed up to. Alarmingly, it seemed that none of the gentlemen that made contact with Jenny were from the site that she had actually joined.

Single people often, unknowingly, turn to unscrupulous dating sites in their quest for romance, but there are genuine and more discreet dating services available?

The well established and regulated traditional dating agency offers personal introductions, provides security checks and your information is not passed to third parties. A regulated agency offers membership guarantees and is monitored regularly for keeping up its standards and following the strict code of practice set in place by the Association of British Introduction Agencies –watchdog for the dating industry.

So, remind me again, why would anyone join an online dating site offering only a world of insecure, faceless, fake profiles?

For further information visit selectservices.co.uk / abia.org.uk

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