Secret business
Although Lin's family and friends know about his part-time job and support him, he still insists on keeping his identity secret. "If people knew that I was the founder of a sexless dating website, I might be considered a disabled person or a homosexual in need of opening up a website like this," he said. He notes that if there are rumors he fears that his career might be affected, so he uses a pseudonym.
In the beginning, Lin was the only staff member of the website. He even left his own QQ number for customer service online in case anyone needed help.
Now he has some employees. He pays two people, and another three help for no charge because they found partners through the website and see its value.
"The operation of the website costs around 10,000 yuan ($1,629) per month," he said. "Most of our income is from others' donations." Lin noted that the staff do not expect to make money out of this but want to help others.
When the website originally started, it was totally free of charge. Only in the last two years did they start charging money for VIP members. But the charge is primarily not to generate profits. Rather, it's for thwarting the many scam artists who lurk on the site.
Blackmail threat
Lin was surprised to find that his dating website has become the target of blackmailers and swindlers of many stripes.
"Some fraudsters tried to trick our members into going to bars in order to swindle money from them," he said. "These are vulnerable groups of people. Cheating them couldn't be more immoral."
Other scam artists approached members with more insidious methods. They first made friends with members. After collecting enough personal information from them, they blackmailed them, threatening to reveal their sexual disability to others if they refused to pay.
To tackle this problem, VIP members register with a credit card. "If you intend to blackmail other members, then your real identity can be tracked via your credit card," Lin said. The rate of scams has been reduced since Lin introduced this system.
As more and more users find their partners through his website, Lin has been receiving gifts and wedding candies from his former users. Some even invited him to attend their wedding ceremonies. One of them was a 31-year-old Beijinger surnamed Chen, who Lin says lost his sexual ability because of masturbating too much as a child. Chen found a girlfriend with no sex drive on Lin's website.
Their wedding was held in a hotel in Beijing, without even informing their parents, for fear the match would be rejected. "Chen had been through a difficult period. He was scammed by doctors extracting money from him with fruitless medical treatment," he said. Chen even wanted to commit suicide until he found his true love months later.
Migrant workes' high incomes not that rosy
Feedback
RSS
