Tenderness, love, sex: hundreds of dating sites promise to fill all our most intimate desires. But false profiles are legion and questionable business practices. And five Swiss companies draw the tricks from many of these websites throughout Europe, generating millions of turnover, reveals an SRF survey.
Following the death of his partner and his mourning process, Rolf Antoniazzi decides to find love. He enrolled on a dating site managed by the Qualidates company for a month of free trial – at least that’s what he believes.
After less than two weeks, he realizes. “It’s pipeau”. Rolf suspects women who send him messages from being false profiles: the answers arrive too quickly, the interlocutors do not answer his questions, the age difference – which sometimes rises up to 30 years – is too important. ROLF deletes your account.
This is where the problems start. According to him, he has not subscribed to a subscription, but Qualidates invoices him nearly 60 francs per month. Unfortunately, it was only two years later, and some 1500 Swiss francs less, that he realizes it.
He decides to assume his responsibility, because he did not notice the samples. Nevertheless, Rolf Antoniazzi believes that companies like Qualidates do not seek to put people in contact, but rather to exploit their loneliness.
Zug, the Mecca of Doubt Dating Sites
The case of Rolf Antoniazzi is only one of many. The investigation center of SRF German Public Media started on the track of these doubtful dating sites. An investigation which led him to Zug.
Over the past ten years, European consumer protection organizations have received more than 800 complaints concerning business dating sites domiciled in Switzerland. And on site, in Switzerland even, there are 331 to have submitted a complaint to the State Secretariat for Economy (SECO) against the same operators of dating sites.
Five companies, all located in the canton of Zug, are at the origin of these websites: Paidwings AG, Date4Friend GA, Dateblaster GA, Dateyard GA and Qualidates AG. These companies say they are independent of each other. However, SRF Investigativ’s survey reveals that they operate on a network.
With the exception of Dateyard, all companies were founded by the same parent company: EINS11 AG. When they were created, EINS11 AG held all the actions of the four companies. And according to the commercial register, the company Dateyard held its meetings in the offices of the former fiduciary of Eins11.
Similar scams
The five companies are under fire for criticism for similar scams. Once the subscription is subscribed, it is automatically renewed. Cancellations are not accepted.
Instead, companies cover claims in an aggressive manner through a collection agency, sometimes even a German law firm.
In terms of human relations, the men and women interviewed report that they have never met a real person. SRF Investigativ has connected to two of these dating sites: nurswinger.ch from Paidwings and Bleibnichtalleine.ch of Qualidates.
The team of journalists confirms. An armada of accounts are very “interested”, then encourage to turn to other paid meeting platforms. And the sites are full of false profiles.
Loneliness, a big business
In the past two and a half years, these five Zugois operators have billed at least 24 million euros, according to internal data on “high -risk customers” of the Worldline payment service provider – of the data analyzed by SRF Investigativ and the international network of journalists European Investigative Collaborations (EIC)as part of the investigation “Dirty Payments” (Read box 3).
In Switzerland, the French group Worldline is essential. When a customer presents his bank card in front of a terminal in a Coop agency or enters his credit card data online, for example, Worldline ensures that payment is processed in the background.
The Worldline group has not commented on its trade relations with Zugoises. In general, the French company writes that operators of dating sites are generally considered to be a risk. Their customers require reimbursements more frequently than other economic models.
It is possible that Zugoises companies have contracts with other payment providers and earn even more.
No illegal practice noted
Until now, no court has noticed illegal practices within the five Zugois companies. SECO could bring legal action against meeting agencies by initiating criminal proceedings.
But for the moment, the Seco receives above all many anonymous complaints – complaints that cannot be prosecuted, faults of tangible evidence.
Article original: SRF Investigativ
French adaptation: Julien Furrer (RTS)
