A man in Queens is suing OKCupid after meeting someone on the site who conned him out of over $70,000: 65-year-old Michael Picciano messaged with a man in February of last year, spoke to him on the phone, and Skyped him. Shortly thereafter, Picciano found himself lending his online crush $70,420 for various business endeavors. In the suit, Picciano faults OKCupid for failing to provide “even minimal screening of its subscribers and therefore deceptively creating the impression that their dating service was safe.”
Perhaps this is a bit like suing a bar that does not vet its clientele for scammers, jerks, charlatans, and snake-oil salesmen. That being said, Picciano is after better quality control in online dating, so he’s fighting the good fight.
Ironically, Picciano’s scam-friend had been messaging him under the name “genuineguy62.”
