Lawsuit Claims That Over Half Of Match.com Profiles Are Inactive Or Fake

A recent federal lawsuit filed in by 5 men and women from New York, Tennessee, Washington, Florida, and Iowa alleges that more than half of the profiles on popular dating site Match.com are either inactive or fake, and claims that the site intentionally inflates its membership numbers in order to lure new subscribers.

According to the class action lawsuit, Match.com does not screen the site for "fake and fraudulent profiles posted by scammers and others," does not remove inactive profiles that remain on the site for "months and sometimes years" after members stop using the site, and does not accurately represent the number of active Match.com members. The complaint also alleges that Match.com encourages subscribers to renew their expired memberships by sending them messages of interest from profiles that are inactive or fake. The suit states that "Former employees revealed...that Match routinely and intentionally represents that there are significantly more active members on the website than there actually are," and "Another former Match employee revealed...that a huge percentage of the profiles were not real members but 'filler profiles.'" New York-based law firm Harwood Feffer LLP is suing the company for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The description of the case on the firm's Web site asserts that some of the deceptive tactics used by Match.com include:

1. Representing that it approves new profiles when, in reality, it fails to do so and allows numerous fake and fraudulent profiles to be created.
2. Failing to delete inactive profiles and falsely labeling such profiles "active."
3. Failing to take any reasonable steps towards protecting the site from the propagation of false and fraudulent profiles, and thereby subjecting subscribers to countless frauds and scams.
4. Sending "winks" and/or emails to former members indicating that someone is interested in them or that they have a "match." It is only after renewing their subscriptions that these members discover that they have been conned and that "the supposed profiles of interested people are no longer active and/or cannot be reached."

A Match.com spokeswoman issued a brief statement in response to the lawsuit, saying only that "The claims have no merit and Match will defend the lawsuit vigorously. Similar claims were dismissed by a federal judge in Dallas last fall." In 2005, Match.com was sued in California over allegations that employees were hired to create bogus profiles in order to entice members to continue their subscriptions, but the case was dropped. A similar case filed against the company in 2009 was also dropped.

This time, according to lead attorney Jeffrey Norton, things will be different. "We have a strong complaint based on strong investigations," he is quoted as saying in an article from The Dallas Morning News.

A copy of the complaint can be found here, on the Web site of Harwood Feffer LLP. If you believe you have been a victim of the alleged dishonest practices of Match.com, you can join the suit here.