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Queens Man Sues OKCupid After Date Swindled Him Out Of $70K
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 19, 2014
Modified Mar 19, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 19, 2014
Modified Mar 19, 2014
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A Queens man is suing OKCupid after he was swindled out of $70K by a man he met on the dating website. Michael Picciano, 65, says in his lawsuit that OKCupid and parent company IAC failed to conduct "even minimal screening of its subscribers and therefore deceptively creating the impression that their dating service was safe...when in fact...[it] was a trap for the unwary." Picciano believes that it's OKCupid's fault that he willingly handed over tens of thousands of dollars to a stranger. To paraphrase Raylan Givens, Picciano seems like the type of fella that walks under a flock of birds and is surprised when he ends up with shit on his face.
Picciano said he connected with a man who said he was named Bruce Thompson in February 2013, and he started messaging him because he "felt safe and trusted the profile" due to OKCupid billing itself as "the best free dating site on Earth," despite the fact that it IS a free dating site open to anyone with an email address.
After 10 days of messaging on OKCupid, they started emailing and calling; by the end of March, the Texas-native Thompson was asking him for money for a new computer parts business. And less than two months after meeting a stranger on the Internet (and never in person), Picciano agreed to send him $24,000...and then he transferred even more money to different names ("Dennis E. Racer" in Addison, Texas, and an "Edmond Thebeau" in Canada) per Thompson's request, until the total charges came to $70,460.
At this point, Picciano finally realized he was being played, and went to police; so far, they haven't been able to track Thompson down. Picciano believes he is still on OKCupid trolling for victim under the name "bigheartedbt" (his previous screen name was "genuineguy62"). Looking through OKCupid's terms and conditions, it doesn't seem as if OKCupid would be liable for what happens after someone uses their website, which is one of those things the vast majority of users inherently understand. After all, you really never know who you could be talking to on a free dating website.
Tagged
dating
lawsuit
Michael Picciano
okcupid
queens
swindlers
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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