JDate Faking Photos

Many people are drawn to online dating because it provides a pressure-free environment to meet people with similar interests. That's the politically correct answer. Of course, it boils down to people seeking out the hottest looking guy or girl, rattling off a cheesy message, and crossing your fingers (at least if you're a guy in the maze).

For some time, there's been a serious issue in terms of validating identities of individuals on the site. Makers like True.com and eHarmony have tried to introduce services that prevent mismatches, either by surveys and profiling or direct identity verification services. Of course, the majority of the problems have come from members of the dating community "faking" information about themselves to increase their change of "success".

But what do we do when the site publisher is the faker? Till now, it hasn't been outted -- until now. It seems that JDate, a product of MatchNet, has taken to using the photos of adult film stars and models for it's membership ads. This means that the next person you see that seems too good to be true actually may be. As Haaretz International reports:

However, Haaretz has found that the site's banners systematically use fictitious characters based on pictures of models taken from pornography sites.

The changing banners carry pictures of different women, all of them young and attractive, and they all invite the surfer to "chat." Apart from Hila, you can meet Sharon, aged 26, who is also very pretty and single, and like all the girls, she too is looking for a Jewish husband from a good family. At least, that is what the banner says.

But Sharon is Devon Sweet, a model whose homepage says she is a shy student from the United States who "is carrying out an in-depth study into the popularity of bisexuality among young American girls." And what about the Jewish husband from a good family?

Source: Haaretz.com, " JDate banners feature pictures of porn models" via GreedyGirl.com

BUT, before you give up faith. MatchNet has confirmed that they purchased the pictures from a photo archive and had no ideal the photos were from porn stars. That aside, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth and breeds suspicion in the minds of many, myself included.