Here's a real test of what a scam they are. Just tell them that you want to come to China. Once you agree on a date when to meet, "buy" a plane ticket. In reality, buy nothing. Don't even bother going. Then just the day before you're suppose to fly, let them know you're arriving "tomorrow". If you get a response like, "I'm sorry but I can't make it because....", you know you've been screwed but at least you will not have wasted a dime. ChnLove is a scam that has been proven over and over.
I used thaimatches (sister site of chnlove) for about 4 months to talk to one girl. initially I thought it would be for about a month as I was intending on going to thailand for a holiday. Unfortunately my holiday kept on getting pushed out so I spent a lot longer on the web site than I had hoped. I did some research before using the site about their sister site chnlove and from what I could gather the problem seemed to be with the local agencies not the actually web site. Not being a fan of chinese people in general I hoped that the thai agencies would not be as bad. However as the emails continued I noticed a lot of similarities between the emails I was receiving and other people who had used chnlove. I was unable to find any review on thaimatches before I started. There was a lot of long winded emails about life and love and cheating and comparisons to movies etc.. that were so well worded the girl I was communicating with must have been studying english literature at Oxford university. Stupidly I continued even though I knew in the back of my mind it was a scam (a back injury had crushed my spirt and I was holding onto anything that might cheer me up...)
Anyway, I finally got to go to bangkok so I sent her my hotel details. She said she would call the hotel and if I could get a local sim card. When I arrived I bought a sim card and sent it to her through thaimatches, which ironically used up my last credit. Surprisingly she never called.
Also, before I went to thailand I set up a second fake profile and sent her a 'poke'. She responded with a letter which was word for word identical to the letter she had sent to my real profile 4 months previously.
I don't doubt that the girls are real but I think there is probably one or two guys who are actually communicating with them and 100 who are being scammed with fake letters.
Chnlove.com is a total scam!
Others on this website have effectively articulated the nature of the scam. Basically ... overseas fools (most of whom will never venture to China) exchange correspondence with translators that have posted photos of beautiful Chinese women. That's it! You will never, ever ... actually exchange correspondence with the women in those photos, nor will you speak with them on the telephone, nor will you have a video chat (Skype) with them. The women in the photos have no idea what's being said on their behalf. The operator of the website does everything possible to maximize correspondence and thus his profits.
The truth becomes obvious when one actually shows up in China, as I did. I went to Shenzhen. And then nothing! Radio silence. Can't get any phone numbers. Can't set up any meetings. No response to emails.
The mantra of the nature of Chinese business. "I win, you lose." Occassionally I have to remind myself of this reality.
I fully support a class action lawsuit. However, just to be sure - it will be almost impossible to shut these guys down. Don't expect the Chinese government to give a shit. Hell, you can get behind Microsoft and Hollywood. Multinationals have bilions in IP get stolen annually. Also, its incrediably easy to move your website (server + applications) anywhere in the world.
My $.02 ... publicize, publicize, publicize! Grab a URL that has "Chnlove" in it and get as many people as possible to share their experience.
I don’t think there’s any point in filing a complaint against the fact that they deduct credits for unsolicited EMFs. They a business so they need to make money out of something. What I would do is cut your communication down to one or two women and don’t buy credits til you’re sure you wanna communicate with them. Cos if you don’t buy credits they can’t send you any EMF innit. Also, if you’re not interested in a woman then tell her and move on. She won’t harass you if she knows you’re not interested. That should cut down your credit spending.
Also, Chnlove do not own the agencies so they can’t assure that they are 100% honest. Some agencies are dishonest and interact with men without the women even knowing, so you gotta just be careful, like on any other site. But at least Chnlove uses agencies and not direct contact like most other dating sites.
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I did some background checking on the site before putting down any money and it suggested that it was poor value. I thought, however, that what made it poor value could be controlled by quickly moving to an in-person encounter before spending a large amount of money.
My attempt to secure an in person encounter soon indicated that the site is not just poor value but a scam. No sooner had I arrived in China that I received a message asking if I was going to come visit and if so when. This after multiple messages had laid out with absolutely no ambiguity where and when we would meet. I asked for the agency address so I could go there in person and this information was not provided. Contradictory information about the agency's phone number was provided.
I believe the necessary thing to do to protect others is to file a class action suit. I could file a statement of claim in Hong Kong, and the process would involve picking the most appropriate specific case and litigating that as representative of the class. My own case may not be best so if you have encountered another case that is more outrageous, please mention it here.
chnlove.com will surely try to wriggle out of the charge that these women don't actually exist (in terms of being available for an in person meeting as someone who at all resembles the person presented, if available at all) by claiming that in the cases where they are fabricated, it was the agency that did the dirty deed and so it is not chnlove.com's problem.
But chnlove.com cannot escape the fact that they charge for unsolicited services (in particular, unsolicited EMFs) and it is accordingly on this point that I propose the class action be taken. Their site does say users are charged for EMFs they "receive", but nowhere does it say "whether solicited or not" or "read or not". This has to be implied, whereas the common sense reading is that "receive" means "CHOOSE to receive".
According to chnlove.com, send one EMF to a "lady", and "she" can reply with 10 separate messages, each containing no more than a sentence asking a question, and your credit account will be run down accordingly. Chnlove.com will say a user can "block" but this is clearly only a mechanism for limiting the most outrageous abuses once abuse is well established, not for preventing abuse in the first place.
In my own case, I declined to read some EMFs just as an unsolicited package can be returned to sender, but was charged anyway. When I did read one of them, it was essentially contentless, since the questions I asked were largely ignored and instead a few short Qs were asked of me that I had clearly answered on multiple occasions already. The message accordingly did nothing but run down my credits, and the timing was such that this was done because I had refused to be strung along further and was deadly serious about showing up for an in-person meeting. Chnlove.com can blame the agency all they want, but chnlove.com is still responsible for deducting the credits.