The Federal Court has ordered the owners of adult dating and swingers website redhotpie.com.au to inform users that it created more than 1,300 fake profiles.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against the owners of the site, Jetplace, and its directors, Maxwell James McGuire and Mark Semaan, for misleading and deceptive conduct after discovering 1,371 profiles in the site’s “Uncut” section were fake.
The ACCC says Jetplace used some of its own fake profiles to send customised messages (known as flirts) to registered users of the website. The consumer watchdog also says the fake profiles appeared in searches carried out by visitors and users of the site.
Jetplace has been ordered to place corrective notices on its websites and pay the ACCC’s costs. The site will also be liable to pay refunds to users who can show they were misled by the fake profiles and paid membership fees as a result.
ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said the watchdog will come down hard on website operators who use misleading tactics.
“Website operators such as Jetplace must accept that there is significant potential for many vulnerable people to be attracted to socialising and dating websites and that the website operators have a legal responsibility under the Trade Practices Act to ensure the information they place on the website is accurate.”
Samuel also said conduct like this now attracts civil penalties under the new Australian Consumer Law, with fines of up to $1.1 million for companies and $220,000 for individuals.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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