Talk:Bride scam

After reviewing "Advertising in Family" I think it would be very helpful to use their idea for critiscism of the current topic, in our case Bride scam, to provide a sociological analysis of the impact of Bride scam. In a global community things that happen in one country can have a major impact on another, and the distrust built through manipulations like a bride scam are something that should be looked at from a sociological standpoint. Further, I would like to delve deeper into the the national policies or lack there of, of the nations which allow such schemes to exist. Is this just a problem which can't be stopped because of the lack of internet control, or is there possible examples of governments taxing these organizations and allowing unsuspecting individuals to be cheated. Tfinnegan20 (talk) 03:06, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

To Do List

To upgrade the status of this article we will include the following: 1. Intro-- Here we will introduce the topic of Bride Scam

        -who is targeted
        -the size of the crime industry

2. History-- We will go further into the items discussed in the intro and introduce new material.

        -Subsection on Technological development and the impact this has had on the industry
        -Who has been the target, what portion of the worlds population of women have been involved
           -Including information on SES, nationality, etc.

3. Contemporary Development/Issues-- How the world is reacting to the current situation

        -Relationship to mail-order bride agency, 
        -law enforcement/governmental responses and policy

4. Major Incidents/Organizations(State/Governmental Involvement)- Involvement of governments in supporting bride scams.

        -Where relavent legitiment business involvement
        -Persons of particular relevance

5. Related Media/Books Tfinnegan20 (talk) 21:28, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

Project Contributions

Intro and History will be done by Shalanda Bassett

Contempary Development/Issues and Major Incidents or State/Government involvment will be done by Tom Finnegan

Related Media/Books will be done by both group memebers.Shalandab (talk) 21:28, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

This sounds like a good plan to start, but what sources will you be using? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 15:39, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Preeeliminary review

Since I see a lot of work has been done over the past few days, here are few issues from a quick overview about issues that need to be addressed before GA (a more detailed review will follow within a few days).

• the article has empty sections; this is an indicator that it needs expansion. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout

• per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section, lead should be a comprehensive summary (abstract) of the rest of the article, and should not contain new information. It does not seem to me like your lead is either.

• the article does not have enough blue links, per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Linking it needs to be wikified

• references should have an url to the page of the article or book (on Google Books)

--_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 18:06, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Commercial dating platforms and litigation

Some bride-scam and romance-scam allegations have involved commercial international dating platforms that charge users for messages, video chats, images, or other forms of interaction, rather than the simpler pattern of an individual scammer directly asking for travel or visa money.

In 2024, a putative class action, Grimmett v. DMM Solutions, Inc., was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against DMM Solutions, Inc. and unnamed defendants. The docket listed the nature of suit as "Racketeer/Corrupt Organization" and the cause of action as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In a December 2024 order concerning discovery related to a motion to compel arbitration, the court summarized the plaintiff's allegations that DMM operated dating websites including Dating.com, used a credit-based "pay for engagement" model, and that so-called "Popular Members" could send messages free of charge while ordinary users had to buy credits to respond. The plaintiff alleged that such profiles were fake "catfish" profiles used to induce users to spend money, though the court did not decide the truth of those allegations.

Earlier litigation also reflected disputes within the international dating industry over allegations of fake profiles and paid correspondence. In 2013, Anastasia International sued EM Online Pty Ltd., doing business as Elena's Models, alleging that critical websites had falsely accused AnastasiaDate of using paid employees or dating agencies to correspond with men. The claims against Elena's Models were dismissed after the court found that Anastasia had not plausibly alleged an agency relationship between Elena's Models and the operator of the critical website. Legal commentator Rebecca Tushnet noted that the court treated the case as exceptional for fee purposes because Anastasia had continued to pursue a direct competitor without sufficient factual allegations connecting it to the disputed site. ~2026-38065-81 (talk) 04:17, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Corporate catfishing dossier

A 2026 investigative dossier titled Corporate Catfishing Investigation proposed "corporate catfishing" as a related form of chatfishing in which deception is alleged to occur at the level of commercial dating-platform design rather than through individual users alone. The dossier examined public-record material concerning Dating.com Group, Social Discovery Group, AnastasiaDate, Cupid Media, and related supplier, payment, and operator-software systems. It argued that some dating platforms may charge users for messages, photos, video chats, virtual gifts, or other romantic interactions while the communications are allegedly assisted or conducted by paid operators, translators, suppliers, scripted workflows, browser extensions, or artificial-intelligence tools.

The dossier stated that public records alone cannot determine message authorship, profile control, supplier access, or legal responsibility, but argued that the available material raises questions for consumer-protection regulators, privacy authorities, payment processors, app stores, law-enforcement agencies, and investigative journalists. It also cited a 2026 investigation by the Russian outlet Вёрстка, which reported allegations from former Web Flex employees that paid operators handled conversations on Dating.com and AnastasiaDate profiles and increasingly used artificial-intelligence tools to generate or sustain interactions.

Plagiarism / copyvio issues

Please note that parts of the text here have been removed due to WP:COPYVIO issues. Details are here. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 18:52, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Romance scam

The content of bride scam and romance scam look very similar in scope with a huge amount of overlap. This looks to be one topic, not two. K7L (talk) 03:57, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

Bride scam seems to be a very specific subtype of the romance scam (not all romance scams are bride scams, but all bride scams are romance scams). As such, I don't think the merger is needed, unless the notability of either is questioned and requires merger to be saved. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 11:50, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

I agree with Piotrus. Froid (talk) 12:20, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I agree with Piotrus too. Bride scams are a subset of romance scams, targeting women as well as men via increasingly organised businesses. Whiteghost.ink (talk) 01:38, 6 December 2014 (UTC)

Strongly disagree. Bride Scams are fundamentally different from Romance Scams. The romance scam has no objective that involves marriage, and rarely involves personal contact. It is an online game to acquire money only. Bride scams CAN be a romance scam, but usually involve immigration factors such as getting visas, trips to the US, or other wealth associated with a marriage. The victimology is quite distinct, and combining these would confuse those looking for real insight into one or the other. However, you can certainly cross-link them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Romancescamsnow (talk • contribs) 02:49, 30 April 2016 (UTC)