MELBOURNE: Australia’s consumer watchdog is trawling internet dating sites to ensure dealings with customers are ‘‘true and fair’’.
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Match-making websites can have nasty surprises hidden in the fine print of ‘‘free trial’’ contracts, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned.
These are part of a broader problem of dating and romance scams that have cost Australians $16 million this year alone.
‘‘The ACCC is today sweeping the internet to ensure that dating sites are being true and fair in their dealings with customers, and provide protection from scammers,’’ ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said on Monday.
‘‘Online dating sites have proven to be a popular forum to meet someone special, and we’re reminding this booming industry to treat customers in a fair and transparent manner.’’
The watchdog has received 1700 dating and romance-related complaints so far in 2014.
Complaints include online dating services signing people up to long-term fixed contracts with onerous conditions, such as automatic renewals and high cancellation fees.
ACCC inspectors will review dozens of websites as part of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN)’s annual internet sweep.
‘‘If a ‘free’ offer isn’t really free, pricing isn’t clear, or a contract is easy to sign up to, but hard to get out of, then we will find it,’’ Ms Rickard said.
The ICPEN sweep involves more than 50 consumer protection agencies around the world.