ACCC takes Redhotpie owners to court

Guys upgrade, like me. We

Guys upgrade, like me. We think we are getting messaged by these hot ladies and they are all just fake and created by the RedHotPie people. The court forms say nearly one and a half THOUSAND fake girls! Probably hundreds in each city!

Spread the word! I am certainly going to be avoiding RedHotPie. If what is alleged by the ACCC is true then what a sham they and the directors McGuire and Semaan are. I don’t think the ACCC would just make stuff like this up.

I bet they just start another website and rip people off anyway. The company name they are trading according to a website ownership search under is “Jetplace Pty Ltd”. BEWARE OF REDHOTPIE!

And how many other dating sites that are doing the same thing and The ACCC is not interested in taking action?

Just like The ACMA not interested in taking action against spammers and by not taking action are in fact helping the spammers like Members of Parliament and Councils like Brisbane.

Members of Parliament and Council no wonder The ACMA don't want to take action?

Ive been on redhotpie 3 years and new of the fake profiles spam single males once there account is about to run out since then..Mind you alot of gullible guys add these fake profiles to friends list hoping they will score with these gals.So in some ways it is guys own fault for believing they can actually score..I am not defending Redhotpie by any means but the fake profiles are easy to spot ..

i was amazed when i got a mobile message from a girl whom i winked to on RHP sure enough each text was going to cost me $5 as it was going through another company to protect mobile numbers. well at the end my phone bill came to over six hundred dollars and still didn't get the date with the girl, i asked many many times for an email address to keep costs low but she didn't want to. so sometimes it makes me wonder if there was ever girl on the other end or just an employee of redhotpie sending messages and getting a cut from the txts. please if anyone had the same situation it would be good to hear about.

haha everytime rehotpie is criticized a loyal female member speaks out about how good redhotpie really is. We all know you work for them.
Personally, I was bitten by redhotpie fakes myself several years ago..... so I developed my own adult dating site that is free for everyone, with the same chatroom system as redhotpie but with 4 cameras.
It will take approximately another 24 months to gain a respectable database of REAL members. Im not plugging the site but it can be found at the top of the australian google search for "webcam chat melbourne". There is a change in how things are done on the internet these days, the cost of running the site should not be passed on to the user, advertising on the empty space will provide amble funding to run the site FOR THE COMMUNITY not our hip pocket

I agree this is the thin end of the wedge - I know for a fact (because I have been a victim of it) that Sexsearch make up false profiles, and worse, keep old ones with photos that they send to new members to encourage them to upgrade to message back. Initially joining cost is free but to interact you need to pay - this is meant to encourage you to do that I think.....

I have been on RHP for just over a year. Have enjoyed chatting in the chatrooms. And on forums. Also met some lovely people who have become great friends. Nothing is perfect. Good and bad elements out there everywhere. If a person has no intentions to meet within a few weeks cut communication ties. They are wasting your time. Yes..if this sham is true. Let the penalties begin and apologise to RHP memebers.

RPH What a SCAM!
Everyone

RPH What a SCAM!

Everyone knows that not all profiles on dating sites are real and no matter what systems dating sites put in place some scammers will find a way to get on. Although sites with good validation systems are making scammers on them very rare.

RPH deserve to be shut down, it's not that some scammers got thru, but the fact that RHP itself is knowingly and deliberately do the scamming on it's members. RHP are the ones instructing their staff to create fake profiles, send out fake emails & messages and ripping you off in the process.

The ACCC doesn't randomly just investigate companies, they would of first recieved a huge number of complaints before doing a thorough investigation, almost 1.5 years. The ACCC never lose, they are taking RPH to court because they have over whelming proof of misleading conduct.

Red hot pie --- ha red hot scam is more like it ...
everytime my account is going to run out , i get flirts from girls (and some look quite normal and not the obvious fake ones)
but as soon as i renew my memebership the flirts stop ??.... it has been 2 months since i have any interest, i bet that will change when my memembership is up for renewal

I dont think RHP should be shutdown, as there are legimate paid up members who seem to enjoy the site. But, i think RHP should be fined a large sum of money for their dishonesty, and be made to publicly admit that they were doing this on a large banner visible on their homepage. A few years ago I was threatened with having my profile deleted when I wrote a journal detailing my suspicions. It was so obvious and so badly done, they should be fined for sheer stupidity.

Where’s the proof its all

Where’s the proof its all hear say...

Shutting a company down because there are people who didn’t get what they thought they paid for….Well if we put that rule to every industry there wouldn’t be too many business left standing would there….
Mmmm well maybe these people should just pay professionals... and leave these sites to open minded people…. Also if you have a bad attitude and horrible looks you shouldn’t expect miracles...

Just because some members have been burnt does not mean they are the majority...I’m sure a higher percentage are happy so why should the rest of us suffer. My partner and I have been on the site for 2 yrs and are proactive on the site, if you just join and expect to logon every now and then and find a million messages well it’s probably not going to happen... and the functions organised by RHP are also a great way to meet people and yes they are free which is a good thing... so woopdeedoo to you ( Honesty Hurts ) if you feel so strongly about this why dont you just leave the site...

yes they probably should delete profiles if some one cancels there membership but is that really a deal breaker and as for the gullible guys open your eyes …we have had girls try and get us to message them only to realize they are fakes but its pretty easy to recognize, so just take it on board and learn from it..And if you feel online dating does not work for you then do it the old fashion way and go out and meet people in the flesh..

they are running a business so of course they want members to rejoin if there membership is about to run out, but it is your CHOICE to rejoin, you can be a guest member which is free don’t forget..

I met my partner of 3 years on redhotpie and we have met some really sexy people since then.
As huge as this website is i really cant see them faking people for a few bucks, who knows but all i know is it works perfect for us, in fact most of our social life in recent years has been centered around redhotpie parties.

Qantas has been investigated by the ACCC for years but they ae still the safest and most Australian airline we use so go figure!

I "was" a full member on RHP

I "was" a full member on RHP as a single male but cancelled only 1 month in to my 12 months membership due this problem- i lost 11 months membership and no refund > i was aware of this and no probs . I am also aware of the many fake profiles on RHP most of which are not verified. Only contact verified members and you will find real genuine people (very very few of them).

I have always been suspect of RHP fabricating profiles to attract mainly single men who keep sites like this alive/running by luring males to pay membership as they are hoping to find love or someone special. RPP knows men will pay to find true love or something and use this as a weapon. RHP is not the only site who does this in fact AFF and AMM are bigger sinners of this, and its no secret. Id say 85% of profiles on these sites are fake profiles by the general public and the also the hosts of these sites. At last someone has busted them.

These sites CAN NOT only let verified members use the site as if this was the case they would not generate enough income to keep site running hence why the let unverified members use the site and hence the fabricated profiles. Its not hard to work out.

If only someone came up with a site like these ones that only allowed full verified members ( real people ).....wouldnt that be something.

I was quite pissed off when i heard about this story although i have met lots of nice friends on there particularly in chat.

JD I had not read this so say response from red hot pie up until now and to be entirely honest i'm feeling alot better now than i was before. It sounds to me like they were probably trying to protect us girls particularly from some off the weird guys that like to run around in this world.

What Red Hot Pie is/has been

What Red Hot Pie is/has been doing is fraud plain and simple.

The last time I looked fraud was a criminal offence.

McGuire and Semaan deserve to be prosecuted to the very limit of the law and RHP permanently shut down.

Not only is Red Hot Pie notorious for creating bogus profiles, but it is so shonky that whenever I read a post saying how cool it is, I immediately suspect that the author of that post works for McGuire and Semaan.

Another very shonky site to avoid is Be Naughty.com.

(Not related to RHP as far as I know but similar tactics).

If you have been ripped off by Red Hot Pie or any similar service, contact the ACCC or it's equivalent in your country.

Avoid this site like the plague and warn others to do likewise.

McGuire and Semaan are perpetrating fraud, so hopefully they will be convicted, subjected to financially devastating fines and languish in jail for a year or three.

That should make them reconsider any future excursions into internet fraud.

i love redhotpie and i have met heaps of nice guys on there and im not fake im real. maybe read this story that actually has their company statement attached. Doesnt seem to be as bad as what you are all making it out to be i dont reckon.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/flirt-site-redhotpiecomau-accused-of-faking-profiles-in-federal-court-action/story-e6frg15c-1225795147269

So what if RHP posts fake profiles , most of the real guys on RHP are fakes to , married making out there single, living in a fantasy world , like most people on the internet , so whos fooling who , get real , its the internet , what else do u expect , we are living in a real world ,not a fantasy world like dating sites are .

To everyone in here Red Hot Pie is a scam and so are ALL other internet dating sites ....if the recent hefty penalties given to the sites owners and the revelation of over a 1000 fakes profiles in use is not proof of this then nothing will convince your dull minds...these sites feed off the misery and loneliness of vunerable and naive people. There are literally dozens of other sites which are also complete frauds including adultmatchmaker.com, adultdfriendfinder etc etc
All of these sites have the one thing in common..they use the relative anonymity of the net to milk money..and should be avoided like the plague!
And to respondent number 26 on this forum (JD)...for someone claiming to be (quote) a "single bloke" you seem to know a lot about the technical side of RHP...you obviously are a liar and work for the company. People like you who try to pass yourselves off as happy customers are as obvious as day so why bother!

A blanket investigation of the whole online dating industry you say?

Now that's a really "practicle" idea!

Obviously you have no idea of the costs and complexities of legal investigation.

The online dating racket is long overdue for an enema and the ACCC has found the perfect place to insert the tube where RHP is concerned.

It may not be a blanket investigation, but even the ACCC has to start somewhere.

Judging from the shrill cries that I have heard coming from other areas of the Australian online dating rort trying to convince the punters that their company is nothing like those dishonest people at RHP who give their industry "a bad name," I think that this case has a lot of other scumbags worried that the RHP case has the potential to trigger off a major legal overhaul and regulation of this psuedo industry.

McGuire and Semaan along with their equally crooked employees must really be feeling the heat with all the fake "happy customers" around here and other sites.

There are risks to dating in the "old fashioned" ways?

Wow! - That was a profound statement!

I'm sure the rest of us are as awed by your worldly experience as I am.

I really NEVER knew that until you told me.

Now as for being "aware", what Daniel says is perfectly true.

The online dating industry is so obscenely corrupt that absolutely NO dating site can be trusted including the supposedly free ones!

Avoid dating sites. - They exist only to benifit theives.

(continued..) The point I am making is that Jews are very bad to do business with and while I have never used redhotpie one must understand that when you sign up to their site you are effectively agreeing to do business with them (the directors that is). Now doing business with anyone comes with the expectation of a fair deal - that is - where paying users (consumers) ARE being offered the product or service AS advertised. Clearly given the ACCC investigation has shown no such congruence between promise and delivery and hence the deception. Any claim that this happens also in the "real world of dating" is irrelavent as this is purely about the non existence of supposed real people - which paying customers are promised DO exist.
So in short agreeing to do business with people who are traditionally dishonest is a recipe for despair and frustration. I would further add that Jews have for soem time gotten into the sex industry as a means for profit and this site is nothing more than a sex site passing itself off as a "genuine" dating site.

Having been in RHP as a paid member and a guest, I must say i am very disapointed at their lack of concern over the cyber bullying that goes on in some chat rooms. I have witnessed quite a few of these bullies in action, yet RHP is very aware of what is going on yet they do nothing about these people. So far i know of 7 members who have sent letters of disgust at witnessing this pack mentality. These members have received no replies at all. One person who had enough of the bullying, finally retaliated, yet the person has been banned from chat and yet the bullies still remain.What do we do as members to get RHP to listen???I know of a long term member who is a paid member who was banned for 2 days from the chat room... yet 4 days had passed and he still couldnt get into chat... what is wrong with management??

Anonymous...I would suggest that you make a formal complaing to the same organisation who are currently investigating redhotpie and it's directors...by that I mean the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It is more than likely that these "cyber bullies" are none other than smart ass employees and administrators of the website (posing as genuine members) who are displaying their arrogance by insulting paying members. Compaints to RHP itself will only fall on deaf ears but if enough complaints are received by the ACCC about this type of unethical conduct it will give them another avenue of investigation. I'd imagine that if the ACCC demonstrates that these fake profiles are not just being used to lure in paying members, but also as pawns to insult and denegrate people than this website would be closed down once and for all. I have pasted relevant links to the ACCC website and it's contact links also.

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/142

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/search/index.phtml?query=REDHOTPIE&collection=accc_internet&fromItemId=142

1300 302 502 (ACCC info line)

http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/54229 (further contact numbers for offices in each state)

As one anonymous to another, Daniel's advice here is good advice.

Every formal complaint against RHP received by the ACCC strengthens the case against the operators of Redhotpie.

Regarding your comments about cyber bullying in chat rooms, this is a very common tactic where the operators of phoney dating service are concerned.

A formal complaint to the ACCC is priority number one, but you also mention that RHP sponsors a so called swingers club in your area which is under scrutiny by the local council.

That being the case, voice your concerns regarding RHP to your local council in writing and pen a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

It seems I have no help in this small matter.. Was told what RHP are doing in reply to their chat room is not illegal, and that they dont think there is any department that can really help me with my complaint...

I would add to the above (where I stated the the allegations that could be used to base a class action against RHP)...."failing to act against cyber bullying which they were repeatedly made aware of ...(if you have copies of email transcripts that were originally sent (and received) to/by RHP's complaints link regarding this issue I would strongly urge you to keep a record of these even if you can only cut and paste them to a word document that should do. Make sure you included info about dates/time and specific person's name at RHP who communicated with you. This is all necessary evidence. Tell the other (7) people you know who have also suffered this to do the same. Also in my post above where I said...(quote) "If you were able to network with the other 7 people you mentioned who have had similar experiences and perhaps others" ..well when I said perhaps others....I am sure there would be alot!!

All you have to do is watch the cams and you can see REAL people, they are not fake they are REAL and we have met most of them in person, so explain that !

Genuine fake lol.. You should really watch them in the chat rooms sometimes....It is very sad to see them acting like they own the rooms...For a lor of RHPers, this site is like a drug to them..

We have been on RHP for a few years and met some great people! What about the profiles that are fake, claiming to be single women, when really it's a guy who collects pictures?? I think the ACCC has too much time on their hands. Have they checked every dating site that exists in Australia regarding 'fake' profiles? I highly doubt it. Keep up the good work RHP, we love your site and will continue to pay for our membership.

We are a couple who have been bullied several times in the RHP chat room because we refuse to conform to the regulars in this site. That doesnt mean we have been disrespectful in any way, quite the opposite in fact. We have been reading these posts in here and feel it is time we spoke out and let others know that this should not be happening. We are also very unhappy with the help we have received from RHP, as they have been informed of the goings on in these chat rooms. We are asking if any one else has suffered needlessly like we have. Please contact us because we will be wanting to take this further. . You may be asking yourselves well why dont we just delete our profile?? Well we can do that, but thats not the way it should be. It is the principle. And poor management skills of RHP for letting it get this far.And btw we asked for our money to be refunded but have received no email or correspondance of any sort . No correspondance of why we were banned from the chat room either..

to recognised a fake profile its easy usually the picture is blurred as its a copy and paste picture. most of the time its only a single picture.the quality will be poor .they also dont give a postcode and sometime they put 'all over nsw'.

Hi,

After I had joined RHP using my real details I received a "message" from the best looking girl I had ever seen. She lived right near me and was keen to meet. I paid my fee so I could message her but alas the girl disappeared off the site and didn't return any messages

I tried to contact the RHP support people to complain and received no reply

I then signed up as an ex con who weighed 180kg and stated that I was looking for sex with sluts. Amazingly enough a similarly stunning girl contacted me with an almost identical message. She too lived close by and was looking for someone just like me. This time I did not pay any money but continued to be contacted on a regular basis by similar girls even though I didn’t ever message anybody.

I am glad the ACCC are looking into this and feel that they should do exactly the same with all dating sites. Dating sites with real profiles who try to do the right thing have nothing to worry about and would probably welcome an investigation and removal of the sites that give the whole industry a bad name.

RHP have in my mind been very guilty of fraud and should be accountable. Lets understand this, we aren’t talking about a couple of dozen fake test profiles or a few people who weren’t what they said they were. We are talking about a company based systematic attempt to defraud people of money by sending them fake messages from fake profiles in an effort to get them to pay money when they might not have otherwise paid. That’s got to be illegal and hopefully mine and everyone else’s complaints to the ACCC have had the desired result. The ACCC have better things to do than take companies to court if they don’t have a case. Lets see what the court decides.

RHP have been caught conning people into paying for membership by creating fake profiles and sending bogus messages, the claim that "These profiles were used as part of the site's User Security Suite (USS)" is quite honestly a joke and I do hope that the ACC see it as that and takes action against the sites owners.

The owners of RHP also purchased a UK site sometime back fabswingers.com I suspect that this will go the same way, in the meantime so of the claims they make on the site are quite amazing considering the RHP scam, here's a couple of mu favourites;

"FabSwingers is free to use with no charges or subscriptions getting in the way" (they have silver and gold memberships, so not quite true)
"We think so-called "recurring billing" is sneaky and we'll never do it." (Amazing all thingfs considered, this appears on their upgrade page)

There are some good sites out there that don't use these underhand tactics, it would be a shame if theye were all tared with the same brush due to the RHP scam.

i have been lots of dating site and its not just RHP that have fakes profile and scammer,s that try to get money out of you , you just have to be careful no matter witch sites your on

One comment says:
Did you ever read the fine print to the contract? I finally did. It actually admits they will send fake profiles to me from time to time, as promotions!!!!!

Very Very interesting. All is now explained. Wish I had googled RHP first off. All the above is true and still going on. The problem is how do you let the people on RHP know that they are being conned. Put one word out of place on their site and it never makes it to the forum and RHP then ban you.

In a previous relationship myself and my girl chatted on RHP.
I was amazed one day at what occurred. We were in the chatroom and on cam for a couple of hours. We closed the cam down and said goodnight, but didnt actually log out of the chatroom. Walking past the computer 5 minutes later guess what ? ... WE WERE CHATTING ! Thats right, chat was being recorded in the room using OUR nic !
I cancelled our membership and disabled the profile, but like others, returned months later to check and yes it was still there.
RHP you suck !

can people claim things like monthly internet fees, webcams etc, if these were purchased due to redhotpie activity only!?

i have to say thankyou to all the posts on here, i guess you could say i was a bit naive when it came to these sites i have been a member of oasis for smetime and did not have problems like these as the fakes on there are so plain its painful but i am a guest member on RHP and if not for my own cheapness probley would have signed on by now, i find it amazing that such a large site was taken to court and i never heard a word, its great to see everyone ready to speak out against people like this, but on a small side note to daniel after all the helful things you said i think its ridiculous to bring race/religion into it, it seems very narrow minded

We have found the same the moderators on RHP only listen single females on forums because every single female attract 50 guys. It is not a swinging site. The profiles sweetiepie2010 focusliason meeka stalky Fionabee are the forum police and RHP bait to attract single guys....there are more.

The moderators bann on no warning, no questions asked, if one of their baits say out.....out u go even with a paid membership, and guess what no refund.

Bonnie and Clyde
Copy this link to RHP advertisers, RHP refuses to return our emails as well and am now convinced RHP is still at it.

Their moderators are paid forum / chat parcipatants pretending to be customers also have suspicioins they are paid girls of the night. Some of the regulars defend working girls way too actively.

RHP is a disgusting place!!!!

The chatrooms are like high school.. the bullying that goes on in there is appauling. Many good members in there are slandered constantly by regulars in the room that have no lives but to sit in the rooms and bitch about others. There is a big case of bullying in there and RHP is not bothered to help these victims out.

The booting and the lagging in the chat is appauling. Happens far too often and when you complain to RHP about both of the above they comment back with automated pathetic replies. They are not there to help people. They take your money and RIP PEOPLE OFF!

I wish the ACCC would close them down and people would sue their asses. They are TOXIC MONEY GRABBING MONGRELS!

@77. Hi... Just noticed your post. I'm Stalky. Surprised? I am a professional, not a midnight journo. I do not work for RHP and I am 50 years old as stated on my profile. The idea that a man my age could be used by RHP to attract single males to its site is absolutely hysterical. How smart are they? lmfao. What a brilliant marketing strategy that would be! (jk) Yeah right. Get a bunch of old farts to prattle on in the forum... that'll reel 'em in by the thousands! Seriously, think before you speak.

I've personally met Meeka, Focusliason and Fionabee on a variety of occasions at Sydney meet and greets. They're very much real people as well and no, they don't work for RHP either.. and no, none of us are forum "moderators".

Maybe if you used the site for what it was intended then you wouldn't be so bitter about it. Go to some of the advertised events and meet these "real fakes" and you'll see how silly you actually sound. Also, get on the chat room... do you think those people are all puppets? Oh dear. A giant conspiracy. I really don't care either way, use the site, don't use the site... but don't spoil my fun and my opportunities with your crazy accusations, dopey.
Stalky

7 years in redhotpie as a single male
...nothing but fake flirts from fake profiles, any message sent is never replied to
to pay for a chat room is all i can do in there
no point in asking for money back after reading all this above