Match.com Has Another Date in Court

Match.com faces another class action lawsuit claiming it is “little more than a scheme” to bilk consumers and that more than 60 percent of the profiles on the dating site are “either inactive former users or fake or fraudulently posted by scammers and others.”

The case was filed on behalf of Kristy Gamayo and other consumers in U.S. District Court iin San Francisco. A similar case was filed in Dallas in January.

Gamayo's suit claims that many of the photos attached to profiles on Match.com are of “pornographic actresses and models, seemingly stolen from independent websites.”

The suit argues that Match “takes virtually no action” to remove lapsed profiles from its site, counting them as “active” members for “months and sometimes years” after the individuals have become inactive. Match remains profiles only when former subscribers call to complaint, the suit charges.

“Worse yet,” says the suit, “Match overbills and makes unauthorized charges to the debit and credit cards of members and former members alike.”

The suit alleges that Match's actions violate California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act, California's False Advertising Law and other California consumer protection laws.

Match attempts in its Terms of Use agreement to move all litigation to courts in Dallas where it is headquartered, but Gamayo contends that the company is registered with the California Secretary of State and conducts significant business in California and can, therefore, be sued in California.

Gamayo's suit argues that it would be unreasonable to force Californians to travel to Texas to seek their day in court and alleges that the Terms of Use clause is invalid because it was drafted “in connection with Match's false and misleading business practices.”

Gamayo's suit echoes many of the charges in the earlier suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which alleges that “while Match purports to have 'millions' of active subscribers, well over half of the profiles on its site belong to inactive members who have cancelled their membership or allowed their subscriptions to lapse and/or are fake and fraudulent profiles posted by scammers and others.”