Lovelorn Man Sues Match.com for Fraud
Lawsuit claims site's alleged fraud made him feel "undesirable and rejected."
June 19, 2009 — -- When Barry, a Brooklyn man signed up for Match.com, he was optimistic, he perused profiles, wrote and sent messages and winks, and then he waited...and waited.
When replies failed to come, Barry who asked we not use his last name, thought something was fishy. After all, he is young, arguably handsome, and gainfully employed.
"It was really depressing," Barry told ABC's "Good Morning America."
He came to believe that the Web site itself might be to blame for making him feel "undesirable and rejected" and that there might not be real people on the other end of all those messages.
He is not alone.
Barry is considering being part of a proposed class action lawsuit filed by another Brooklyn man Sean McGuinn who is claiming fraud against the online dating site.
In McGinn's complaint, he alleges Match.com perpetrates fraud by returning inactive or canceled members in search results of seemingly dateable people.
He believes he was actually sending e-mails to ghosts of Match.com's past.
Barry understands McGinn's pain.
"I put a lot of time and effort into these subscribers, I feel they never existed," Barry said. "You can find yourself staying up late at night waiting for e-mails that never come... its really sad."
"With all due respect," ABC's Andrea Canning asked McGinn, "Do you think it could have been you? They just weren't interested?
"Sure it's possible," Barry admitted.
But the lawsuit claims Match keeps profiles of canceled or inactive members on the site, creating false hope.
And McGinn's attorney, Norah Hart, says she knows of other former Match members who were contacted after cancelling their subscriptions.
"They cancelled their subscriptions and then they still get e-mails from Match."
She hopes to petition to have the suit raised to class-action status.
Match.com in a statement denied any wrongdoing. "The allegation that we would deceive our subscribers by encouraging them to connect with inactive members does not make sense and is contradicted by our 14-year record. "
Related Stories
ABC News Live