Matchmaking websites crack down on user fraud

Reporters interview Xiao Fang at a Beijing court in March after she took the online dating website Baihe to court after a man who claimed to be the chairman of a listed company she met through the site turned out to be a married man from the countryside. Before she found out the man was a swindler, she had given birth to his child and given him around 100,000 yuan ($15,800). Photo / Xinhua

Companies cooperating with police to identify fake online information

Do you want a safer environment on the Internet to seek "Mr Right" or "Miss Right"? Matchmaking websites said they have a new system to help you detect fraud.

Century Love, a well-known Chinese matchmaking website, has established a system in cooperation with police that helps find fake online information and fraudsters.

"We had an 'online police group' already, and the system, I believe, will promote our work on preventing user fraud," said Ma Xizhe, a senior manager of the website.

The system, which runs continuously, screens e-mails and investigates when a registered member of the website lodges a complaint, according to a statement from the company.

If a member uploads photos that are suspected of being fake, others who put similar pictures online will also be checked and traced, Ma said.

"The member will be deleted from our website if we confirm his or her information is untrue," she said. "In this way, many people who want to change an online account to defraud again will be detected easier."

The system was expensive and has helped avoid matchmaking fraud, Ma said, but she did not say how much money the company spent.

"We report to police in different areas across the country regularly, supplying them with clues and assisting them in their investigations," she said.

It is not a "must" to register with real identities on the website, so the better way to reduce clients' concerns should be to improve the website's technical system, she added.

Since 2012, the website has helped police find about 100 matchmaking frauds in China, while more than 20 cases are now being investigated, the company said.

The website also is warning its customers to be careful when dating strangers, the statement said.

The website highlighted several cheating scams, including entrapment and gang-related fraud, and also offers tips on how to distinguish cheaters from those who really want to seek a partner.

Some men pretend to be successful people who urgently want to establish a relationship with a woman, and they may also ask so-called relatives or even parents to call and send messages to their dating targets to gain their trust.

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