The executives ran a number of scam sites, and the “women” the men were talking to were paid fakes.
Some of the employees hired by the executives sent members unsolicited emails posing as women who wanted to speak with people online. The real human beings were able to trick customers into thinking they were receiving emails from genuine women, and not just worthless spam.
The eight executives are accused of running scam dating sites for more than 10 years, and they are accused of paying their staff members to pose as women who were looking for love. The men are thought to have made more than $50 million since the sites were set up in 2004.
One regular user of the sites spent more than $70,000 over the course of a few years in order to speak with women who were looking for love, or so he thought.
According to Metro, the Japanese government has launched a bid to crackdown on scam dating sites, also known as Sakura sites.
One campaign launched by the government shows a woman appearing in disguise as a typical Sakura site, and there is a speech bubble that reads “Sorry. I can’t meet you.”
