Caught Cheating: Affair Site Ashley Madison to Pay $1.6M

The proliferation of fake online dating profiles is giving new meaning to the phrase “love is blind.”

Toronto-based Ashley Madison on Wednesday became the latest dating site to be accused of using fake profiles to lure consumers with restricted accounts into paying for the messaging and texting features necessary to interact with others on the site. In a complaint, the FTC also alleged that the site failed to protect the profile information of its users, leading to a massive breach of 36 million users’ information in July 2015.

The operators of the site, which enables extramarital affairs with the tagline “Life is Short. Have an Affair,” agreed to beef up security and pay $1.6 million to settle the charges.

Meanwhile, Ashley Madison also faces a class-action lawsuit that alleges it overstates the amount of women who use the site.

This is not the first time the FTC has taken action against a dating site. Read about the agency’s action against JDI Dating and that site’s “Virtual Cupids” here.