A Cyprus-registered company has been linked to a dating website accused of using AI chatbots and fake profiles to defraud users, according to an investigation by Belgian state broadcaster VRT NWS.
J-Profit Operations, registered on Archbishop Makarios Avenue in central Nicosia, is one of two companies receiving payments from dating site Jump4Love (J4L).
In-cyprus contacted the person who appears to be the director of the company on the Cyprus Registrar of Companies database. He said he is not aware of the company and will research the matter.
VRT NWS also contacted the man by telephone to ask about his role in J4L’s operations. “I don’t know you and therefore will not answer these kinds of questions over the phone,” he told the Belgian broadcaster.
The investigation found that J4L charges users between 30 euros for 40 credits and 379 euros for 900 credits, with men paying per message and per letter to chat with profiles claiming to be Ukrainian or Russian women. Profile photos on J4L appear on multiple dubious dating sites, with images taken from social media or stock photo site Shutterstock.
J4L’s terms of service state the site works with subcontractors who “communicate in a way that can stimulate spending money on the website”. The terms also note “the person you are chatting with is not always a woman” and that AI models are used “but only for generating visual material”.
One user, Ronny, 57, spent 1,000 euros over three months chatting with a woman claiming to be from Paris. “One chat message costs nearly a euro. When you exchange messages for months, you quickly lose hundreds of euros,” he said.
Another user’s father spent nearly 6,000 euros on the site over 10 months, believing he was in a relationship with a Ukrainian woman in her thirties.
Bank statements seen by VRT NEWS show payments to J4L are linked to two companies: J-Profit Operations in Nicosia and Omega JL LP, registered in Edinburgh with an address also in Rosyth, Scotland—both popular destinations for letterbox companies.
Belgian Consumer Affairs Minister Rob Beenders urged victims to file reports with police. “It is unacceptable that vulnerable or older people are financially and emotionally misled by services that promise human contact,” he said.
