Americans 'heart' dating websites — but not the scammers

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Millions of Americans have turned to the Internet to find love on dating web sites, now a $2.1-billion industry, according to the research company IBIS World. But sometimes the frog that fails to turn into the prince is the dot.com itself.

"Any time you have millions of members, you're going to have some level of complaints," said Ryan Frankel, the chief technology officer of DatingAdvice.com's parent company. "The online dating industry is so young, there's no trusted sites. There's no FDIC."

The Better Business Bureau collected 3,294 complaints nationally about online dating sites in the past year, ending Sept. 30 — a 40% increase in the last three years. Of those, 70 were from eastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

To be sure, more people are on dating websites, so it's no surprise that complaints are increasing. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that one out of every 10 Americans reported using an online dating site or mobile dating app. Even so, shopping for love requires some due diligence on the financial front.

True love is hard to find.