Complaint Review: illicitencounters.com - London Internet

Illicitencounters.com is not a scam in the sense that the site owners are committing a deliberate fraud. But it is a scam by pretending (knowingly or otherwise) to be something it is not.

To effect this scam it takes advantage (again knowingly or otherwise) of human psychology. This psychology takes a number of forms. The first is what economists call moral hazard. This has nothing to do with socially acceptable behaviour right and wrong but the imbalance that can occur between risk and reward. It has figured in the press recently due to the banking crisis.

With reference to banks, if bank employees consider themselves too big to fail it means risky behaviour has no or little downside the taxpayer will pick up the tab for losses. But there are mega-bucks on the upside that will benefit them. So no (or little) risk and plenty of reward. So it is with women on illicitencounters.com. Women incur no cost for making full use of the site. Consequently, they can (and do) indulge their fantasies. The following is a classic.

The requirement is for:

A sophisticated business man who has manners,

Ok so far

Would prefer to meet in the day as my time is limited at weekends and evenings. See below where she describes herself as a hard-working, successful businesswoman but with lots of time to spend during the day!

If your idea of a date is The Travel Lodge,(shag-lodge!) then I guess I won't be making my time available for you. Think boutique hotels and restaurants then you are halfway there. I am very vivacious, live life to the full, but also work very hard as money is an aphrodisiac for me amongst other things

Say no more I shag for dosh! A boutique hotel is a new one on me, but it does sound reminiscent of Joni Mitchells Big Yellow Taxi a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot. The antithesis of this womans view of the world. But then she is 40 (at the time of writing) and has probably never heard of Joni Mitchell or the philosophy her music represented. Others are a variation on this theme.

Their desires seem to revolve around someone with the looks of Brad Pitt, the wit of Paul Merton or Billy Crystal (but not the looks), the morality of Mark Darcy (from Bridget Jones) and if youre a millionaire thatll do nicely. This sounds like a character out of a Danielle Steel or Barbara Cartland novel a complete work of fiction and bad fiction at that. There are others who do not indulge themselves so. But they seem to face two very different problems.

The first is that of security. They recognise the predatory male and at the first indication of any problem, a bad turn of phrase a missed communication, move on. Not an unreasonable approach but then again not one likely to result in a successful encounter. This, however, is a natural consequence of an online world where deceitful behaviour is frequent. It is also a natural consequence of moral hazard. There is no cost of moving on since no cost is incurred in making full use of the service. The second is that of attraction.

They have limited information to go on and all is electronic so open to abuse. Any sign of imperfection means that the logical response is to wait for the next man to come along. Like buses, there is a wait and two or three come along at once.

The second piece of psychology it relies on is that described in evolutionary psychology where women are seeking good genes for their offspring. That doesnt mean we have women who are looking to be made pregnant, although it is possible, But that a women in her 40s or 50s, after 20 years or so of marriage, is easy prey for a 20 or 30 year old man. Frequently, the term brother and sister is used to refer to the relationship between the woman and her partner. That is, the sexual side of the marriage has wasted away. It is hardly a revelation that men will have sex