review was conducted as an independent study with funds provided by
the reviewer and was not in any way promoted or influenced by the web
site owner or anyone affiliated with the business.
Initial thoughts were that the site was fun to be on and can keep you
involved. Really involved to be precise! The site is in no way free.
In order for a member to read messages, see who winked at them, or see
who viewed their profile, they need to pay a membership fee.
In no time after our initial successful registration, members started
viewing our profile. What struck us as an interesting coincidence is
the fact that the members visiting our profile were the same members
we had recently viewed. Visits to our profile started pouring in.
Suddenly, there was a huge amount of emails in our mailbox. Don't
forget, we couldn't read emails or see who visited us, until we become
a paid member, so we paid for our monthly membership and to satisfy
our curiosity.
We contacted a few profiles belonging to people living in a 50 mile
radius from us. We also replied to some of the members that had
previously contacted us. Response ratio was 0%. A few other members
however contacted us, but when we replied, we never heard from them
again. A common element we noticed with all the people who contacted
us, visited us, or winked at us was an icon in their profile
resembling a little
We started digging through the site's Terms and Conditions and we
discovered something called Virtual Cupids. Turns out that all these
profiles were fake / automated profiles intended to keep members
involved. They visit your profile a few seconds after you visit
theirs. They also have the ability to contact you. Don't forget, they
start doing all this while you are still unpaid member, trying to
influence you into purchasing a membership.
Whenever we searched for members near us, all profiles that were
returned as results, were Virtual Cupids. We decided to experiment, so
by using a proxy server, we logged in to the site, pretending to be
residing in Los Angeles, California. Low and behold, all these
profiles that were virtual Cupids in New York, had now mysteriously
shifted their locations to within 50 miles from LA. What a scam this
is!
Conclusion. The site uses unfair practices to incentivize new members
into purchasing membership. Don't be mislead and don't pay for
membership!
Update: December 20, 2011 - The virtual cupids have been replaced with VC icons. Don't be tricked into a conversation with these profiles. Their intent is to lure you into paying for your membership and they are not real people.