GREENSBORO, N.C. – A Match.com user is suing the site over fake profiles. Here's what the lawsuit boils down to: it says there are two way to use Match. The first is a free membership where you can see who the other users are. The second is a paid membership where you can actually talk and flirt with them. The lawsuit claims people who had just the free membership would get messages saying these other profiles are showing an interest. But when they paid money to talk with those folks, the people who were interested in them sometimes turned out fake.
The lawsuit against Match claims "well over half of the profiles on its site are fake." But the lawsuit provides no evidence that claim is true.
What the suit does show is how one user says he spotted the frauds. He kept seeing the same pictures and descriptions used for profiles, but with different names. So unless Emma has a twin named Jessica and they are both dog lovers and are both looking for someone who is athletic, then at least one of these profiles is fake.
The lawsuit goes further claiming: "Match knew that many of its so-called users were fake profiles created for the purpose of spamming legitimate paying members."
A Match spokesperson sent me over this statement about the suit:
“Match started more than twenty years ago with the sole mission of helping our users find love. We receive plenty of wedding announcements, invitations, and thank you notes from the millions of users whose lives have been forever changed because we’ve helped them meet their soulmate. While we understand that some people may not be successful in love, the claims made by the plaintiff are not supported by the facts or the law and we expect to prove this as the case proceeds. We also are considering seeking attorneys’ fees based on the initiation of the suit. Similar ill-advised cases against Match have been dismissed in the past.”
