Online dating is popular among Chinese singles in their late twenties, although they claim to do it for fun, not to rush to find a partner to marry. (Photo : www.straitstimes.com)
The crackdown conducted by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) early this month has revealed the fraudulent practices of some dating websites, amid issues over the credibility of the growing online dating industry.
An interview by the Global Times on a former employee of a dating website showed how some online dating agencies take advantage of male users and exploit them to gain profit.
The former employee, who worked as a "matchmaker," said that her employer used fake pictures that were stolen from other sites.
"About 99 percent of these pictures are fake. These girls are not our members. We stole their pictures from other websites," the former employee told the Global Times. She said she decided to quit after she got tired of telling lies every day.
The former employee said that they called clients and asked them to pay to get the contact details of the fictional partner they chose online.
The report said that male clients sometimes pay 1,899 yuan for membership and still could not get the details.
Ye, a former user of a dating website, also validated this information.
"I registered with many of these websites, and found out that many of them are fraudulent. At first they would promise that I can get the girl's details for sure, and call me every day to get me to pay for their service," Ye said.
According to the report, rapid urbanization has caused the migration of young people from the rural areas to the cities and many of them turn to online dating sites to find partners.
There is a total of 250 million single men and women in China, which provide profitable opportunity to online dating websites, the report said.
The government's three-month campaign that started in February has resulted in the closure of 128 illegal dating websites. Some other 20 sites were ordered to correct their questionable practices, the Xinhua News Agency said.
The CAC said that the websites were closed due to lack of registration records, leak of user's information, promoting pornography and other vulgar content online.
