Last year we told about a member of AshleyMadison.com that reported some spammy profiles and messages.
You can read that at Ashley Madison Scams
We have since received several other responses all saying the same thing. We asked all the men and they said they never met any of the women sending these messages and when they contacted Ashley Madison they were ignored. They also never got a refund for the wasted credits.
So we want to hear from more people. Is AshleyMadison.com a scam?
Update: We have shared a new article about AshleyMadison.com
Is Ashley Madison trying to scam the Fakebusters?
Update: A reader pointed out that Ashley Madison admits to creating “fictitious profiles” in order to interact with members. He stated this basically means Ashley Madison creates fake accounts and then charges men to contact those fake accounts.
AshleyMadison.com Admits to Creating Fake Profiles!
Yes Ashley Madison is loaded with these fake profiles and a very very very few real ones. I got a response from one person person I think is real which I still have not met. Don't ever answer a collect message, they just got your credits. I can't even figure out how to send a collect message. Make sure your message setting is not set to send all your messages priority. Blew my credits in a few days. I complained and they actually did give me some of my credits back. If you get a message saying, "I prefer a more personal touch" don't do it. Especially if they have not "viewed your profile." But even the fake profiles can "view your profile."
agreed, messages from fake profiles, generic statements like above,this website is definitely a scam.if you reply to a message you dont even get a response back, remember this is the profile messaging me.
it should be fairly straightforward running a successful online business connecting people without scamming them as well.
this website could ruin the whole game.
Yes! Absolutely a scam and a con. Fake profiles galore, also I told them to stop charging my card, followed the instructions by phone with a rep to uncheck boxes for automatic billing, when I checked back something or someone had RE-checked the auto-pay boxes and then they charged me again AND refused to refund claiming it was my fault for not monitoring! The few response messages I did get were scammers trolling for passwords!
Much of the problem is simply the fact that married women, even if their profiles are legit, are often just window shopping or just looking to chat. There simply aren't a lot of married women who will truly meet a man and have an affair.
But they do exist – I've had flings with a couple of women in the past year – and you're probably as likely to meet them on AM as anywhere else. But you have to be careful. Don't answer any collect chat requests, de-select the "premium" message option, and I don't message anybody who merely checks boxes and doesn't write what they're looking for.
Finally, there's a lot of single women looking for a rich married guy to date on AM. So I'd also add that you want to avoid anybody who includes a public photo.
So if you are careful and use some common sense, you might meet somebody without spending more than $75 on AM.
So, not a scam, but hardly a slam dunk.
Ashley Madison is the PERFECT SCAM. They lure guys in with fake profiles and fake emails. When the guy realizes he has been scammed- there is nothing he can do! No one wants to draw attention to the fact they were on the site. No one will take legal action or file a consumer complaint out of fear their name will be tied to the site. AM is basically immune from angry customers- the perfect scam.
If you do push hard with the complaints, they will threaten to send AM labeled correspondence to your house.
The site consists mostly of fake female profiles who you waste $3-12 each attempting to contact. The site also has many girls who flat out admit they are looking for “Sugar daddies”. Of the few, real females looking for action on the site, most of them are heavyweights. Of the super rare attractive real woman on the site- be prepared to compete with 1000 other guys to talk to the 1-3 females in your area.
AM knows they are flat out robbing people, and they know no one will do anything about because they essentially “have dirt” on the guys.
AVOID THIS SITE AT ALL COSTS.
I wish I would have read this infor before signing up to AM. They screwed me. I found out fake profiles using the google image search with the pics some of this profiles had. Found out that the majority of the profiles using pics were fake. Contacted them and the treats began. WTF? I am pissed! Multi Million Dollar SCAM. I will try to contact the news to get their scam uncovered. Hope this helps someone looking for a AM hookup.
Yes, most profiles are fake. Interesting that there is a scientific way to monitor which ones are. The site is so desperate that they actually posted a picture from a hair dye box in one profile. I have heard that there are bitches running the whole thing and they are pretty rude. I posted a profile acting as a woman with a picture from another site and got 227 replies in the first day the ad was up. That should tell you something about the ratio of guys to girls. AM also added "two "Hot to Trot" points to my ad as soon as it was posted. This made it look like I was a slut. I suppose that this makes me more attractive to the guys on the site because I'm serious about this… After all, look at my track record. Oh, and women don't have to pay for anything but they can sure burn up guys credits in a hurry. I estimated that AM could have taken in over $5,000 from my ad. Guys, use caution though… If you want to delete your profile they charge you for it. To circumvent this just delete all of the text and pictures in your profile and then let AM "approve" your changes. After your profile is changed to a skeleton just abandon it. I am very tech savvy and know how to topple that site and just may do it. After all, they are ripping guys off to get money and they deserve to be stopped.
I am a male. I am a bit skeptic of this site – dunno if I care to buy credits. I joined "Ashley Maddison" yesterday as a trial member, after having little-to-no luck with "Adult Match Maker" (an Australian dating site). I was pleasantly surprised to get feedback from a woman within an hour; and three others since – all within a day.
But here's the thing: I can't read their messages unless I pay for credits. And also: the enthusiasm of these women seems suspicious: on AMM (and RSVP, another Australian site) – I was lucky if a single woman viewed my profile inside a month (and I have nothing bad to say about those sites).
So I decided to check on GOOGLE to find out what other people thought, and now I am writing as well.
Maybe I should get m'self an affair the old-fashioned way: find a nice drunk sheila at a bar.
Yes, it's true AM is full of fake accounts… and as an AM member I have lost a fair amount of money to them due to my primal urges lol… but at the end of the day, I've met 3 different women from AM, ALL of whom had accounts that did not show their picture as a main. I think that's the ticket – real women who are cheating are DEFINITELY not going to put their pictures up for everyone to see. You have to talk to the ones that have their pics set to private, and can give you an email address and more pictures. At least that's how it's been in my experience. I don't even bother messaging girls with pictures up anymore, I know it's bull shit. Especially when the information on the account doesn't make sense. She's clearly a decent height but the profile says she's 4'10 and weighs 90 pounds? LOL Obviously it's fake. Talk to the profiles that only describe themselves and you can find real women… then get the key if you're lucky and hopefully, you'll get lucky. Happy hunting!
ask yourself one question, why do these sites exist? Nothing to do with getting men laid, they exist to make money and they do it by conning the unwary. Download a free photo identifier like Tineye and try it on some of the pics of the supposed women on these dating sites. You'll find Sherry from Dallas' picture is really a holiday snap of a woman from England stolen from her online photo album.Don't pasy any money if you need sex that badly dial a hooker, it will work out cheaper.
I agree that there are many fake profiles on the site and single women looking to get their bills paid. However, with a little common sense and persistence (well, maybe a lot of persistence) you can meet real women in your area. But guys, look in the mirror…if you are out of shape or not exactly cute your choices will be limited. Just keep sending your key out to profiles for attached women with no picture or only key pictures? Make sure you have a lot of recent pictures…and be realistic in your expectations a far as calibre of women you will attract. Just the honest opinion from a new member who has met four live women and slept with two of them.
We are not doubting that there may be some real women on Ashley Madison. We were sharing evidence sent to us that may show the website itself posts or condones fake profiles purely for the purpose of increasing their profits and deceiving paying members.
I am a single woman and have an account on there.
I have a few problems. One being that I can't find a link anywhere to buy credits. I want to because I have no desire to send collect messages, I think it's just rude.
Another problem is when I do message a man it doesn't tell me it's a collect message so I'm not sure if the messages I've sent are collect or not.
My 3rd problem is with something a few men have said in this blog. They have listed their perceived problems with the real women on there and mentioned weight. Weight is only a negative if you prefer women who are slim. There are tons and tons of men who like bigger women. Saying weight is a negative is like saying all the women are no good because they are blonde and you don't like blondes. Weight is a preference just as height, race, hair colour etc… Stop insulting women because they aren't what you prefer in a woman. Yes saying being fat is a negative when it comes to attraction is an insult.
AM might be a con if you're stupid. That sounds a bit harsh but sometimes life is harsh.
Is AM a con full of fake profiles and credit burners? Maybe. But take it from a guy who has had two affairs, if you're patient and play it right there are women out there that are looking for NSA sex.
As already noted in other comments, there are an inordinate amount of guys compared to girls, but isn't that the same when you go to a bar on Friday night? Aren't there tons of horny guys preying on a small handful of women? If you're expecting a line of women as soon as you sign up then you should adjust your expectations. Why is this? Because men are hornballs and much more likely to cheat on their wives than women.
Because of that, you have to understand how the interaction is going to be, it's a simple law of supply and demand. For example, a woman doesn't have to settle on what she's looking for because there are hundreds of guys that she can choose from. So if you're not the right age, height, weight or colour of if you haven't checked off the right boxes then she'll just move onto the next dude because there are hundreds of other dudes she can choose from. If you send her a message and she ignores you it's the same deal. Don't fret about it, that's just the way it is so move on.
As for credit card payments, in my humble opinion you're just dumb if you used your credit card to pay. I created a separate Gmail account just for this and went to my local bank and purchased a money order for my initial 200 credits and mailed it to the good folks at AM. Worked like a charm and they have no way to contact me apart from my special email address, can't send me AM branded stuff in the mail if I get pissy with them, and can't renew my credit subscription when I run out.
I guess AM could be perceived as a scam, but only if you're stupid. Follow the steps outlined above and you too can find the lips of someone else's wife wrapped snugly around your hard schlong, just like I have done twice (and counting).
If Ashley Madison condones, perpetuates or knowingly allows fake users/profiles, isn't that a scam regardless of the victims' intelligence levels?
I watch American law tv shows and have never heard anyone say "The victim was stupid so they deserved to be robbed."
I've slept with 3 women I've met on the site over a 2 1/2 year period. It takes a lot of time and a lot of people just don't reply but there are genuine people on there.
We have a new post about Ashley Madison here http://fakebusters.blogspot.com/2013/04/is-ashley-madison-trying-to-scam.html
My experience is that Ashley Madison is not a scam. It is simply a numbers issue. I have chatted with many women on the site who have said the same thing "they get lots of messages so they can be very picky". they also say that most guys are lame in their initial contacts so they ignore them. They all want to be treated with respect regardless of what their profile says.
In another article we have shown that Ashley Madison does use "fictitious" accounts to interact with member.
We have also deleted a few of the comments that were not on the topic of Ashley Madison scams.
http://maggiemcneill.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/show-and-tell/
I am a female who has registered with this site and I am real, and not a 'heavyweight' as a previous post stated.
Generally, we are professional women, who have become a bit bored in our relationship, and want to get that 'butterflies' feeling again, that excitement when you receive a text message from someone new.
The amount of messages I have had from guys sending pictures of their privates is incredible. Note to men out there..it is not really a turn on to see your manhood before we have even spoken!,..I delete those.
I had no idea that men had to pay to message me, as it is all free for women.
After reading Previous reviews, I set up a fake account as a man looking for a woman and within minutes had dozens of very attractive women emailing me!, Guys, be warned, real women would not contact you that quickly, or even want to be the first to make contact.
I have spoken to 4 guys on this site, but not yet met any as it is early days. If used wisely, it can be a good way to meet people of the opposite sex.
Thanks to all who wrote on here. I joined the site and experienced the usual contacts from what seem like fake profiles. I'll go on my way without spending a dime thanks to this site.
I was just using Google Images. It's easy, open Google, click Images at the top, and the camera in the search bar. There you can upload saved images and Google will search the web to see where they came from. In five minutes I found cam girls, porn girls, amateurs that are posting naked pictures of themselves online, all supposedly "local women I can contact on Ashley Madison". All total fakes designed to take your money. I would assume these women don't even know Ashley Madison is using their pictures. Total scam and fraud.
AM has just opened in Japan and is doing lots of press to get members. When you search profiles there seems to be many but most would be fake. I have had 5 'ladies' contact me with collect messages asking me to reply to them and when I have they don't in turn reply back but its my credits that are gone. All of the 'chat requests' I get (which cost 30 credits) are from profiles in the US who have never even viewed my profile. I think when these credits I have run out (which wont be long) I too will be leaving.
While I agree there are a great number of fakes there are some real ones sprinkled in. I actually ended up connecting with someone I already knew less than a mile from my house ( what are the odds huh!) I have met one other in person and chatted with one other (we exchanged dated photos) that I plan to meet. In all three cases we exchanged private email and continued outside AM. To date I have not used the paid chat feature.
With that said, that is 3 out of about 20…..17 being fake (probably)
I have only been on AM for 2 weeks and am very skeptical. Also the girl I met on AM that I already knew gave me some insight from the "other side" and what to look for in fakes.
I joined to meet women in cities I travel to with work. That hasnt worked. Women want local boyfriends imo. Replacement husbands so to speak.
I will play with it a bit longer and then abandon my account. Also for billing, I use a prepaid visa, when I leave they cant continue billing.
As another poster stated, it is a numbers game. Many more guys than women. I have chatted with some women on AM and they are inundated with requests. The women I chatted with disable their accounts much of the time, so you may never see much of what's 'real'. And there is definitely many fake profiles. As soon as you sign up you may get collect messages…really? My 'guest' membership, without photos, buried deep in the AM repository is immediately discovered…by whom?? I've also been on AFF and it's the same story only with a larger volume of everything. It takes A LOT of time to actually meet someone on AM or AFF, but it can be done. It's just a matter of wanting to spend the time, and it's actually fairly inexpensive. I haven't had AM charge my card when I closed my profile (make sure the boxes are unchecked for auto charging), however AFF is notorious for waiting several months and then beginning to charge again.
We wonder if the positive comments are part of the possible scam mentioned in our article Is Ashley Madison trying to scam the Fakebusters? at http://fakebusters.blogspot.com/2013/04/is-ashley-madison-trying-to-scam.html
It makes us curious because they ignore the articles with serious evidence of Ashley Madison scams and the AM websites own admittance that AM creates fake profiles and then men are charged money to write those fake profiles.
I have been on AM for a number of years. I am in an open relationship so there is no need for me to hide. And I can tell you for sure there are fake profiles on AM. I have had two ladies after being pressed they said they are/were paid by AM to contact people and to get them to spend credit with no intentions of making a connections. In AMs defense there are real people on the sight and connections are possible. BUT I wish AM had some competition, if there was their website would be better and they would look to keep their customers happy, not just give a cr*p. AM does some very shady business practices.
A total scam, I concur with most of what is been said here. I've got 6 emails from really hot women on the first couple of days…and I didn't even have a picture on my profile…the catch? I had to pay to read the emails. TOTAL SCAM
Thank you ppl so much!!! I was gonna get a $50 starter package just to try it out, but after reading all these posts…lucky that I didnt! I rather go and hire a working girl, and they are 100% real! Cheers!!
Feeling like a real idiot for signing up with these scammers. The first time EVER that I paid for any adult content on the web – and I get myself into this rubbish site. I have just deleted ALL my content and tomorrow (as I have to wait for the good AM people to 'approve' the changes) will delete the account. I still have some 300 credits left, but having spent all the money, wasting any more time on this site would be adding salt to the wound. I paid for it through PayPal and I HOPE that this will prevent the re-billing horror. If it does happen, I will re-post again and let everyone know. So, all in all, stay clear of AM.
I have met a few women on AM, but the real ones are far and few between. The sophistication of the fake profiles has increased. They now view your profile and go on and off line. I would love to take to an AM employee. I suspect they can look at credits spent by area and concentrate on increasing numbers in the low areas. Probably get bonuses for increasing revenue.
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read about it on Jezebel and signed up out of boredom.
of the first 100 search hits, more than 60 were fake profiles, identified by simply plugging profile pictures into Google Image Search. it's unknown whether these are being created by independent scammers, or whether the site itself creates them to give the illusion of activity. either way, it's dodgy.
further, they also have a loose relationship with the truth when it comes to billing – despite my declining their offer of recurring billing, they billed me anyway, illegally. that's currently in dispute resolution with Paypal, because they didn't reply to me directly.
steer clear of them. real scam, no value. they are sleazy as hell, and rely on their assumption that you'll be too ashamed to make a big noise about their unethical practices. they even take that so far as to charge you to delete your profile, which is essentially blackmail by implication.
total douchebags.
What is Jezebel?
Ashley Madison pays people to create fake profiles and this fact is eluded to in their terms of service.