David S.
For what it's worth...
I am probably preaching to the converted here. If you are reading this then you have probably already begun to suspect something about the Charmdate "dating" site (and its related 'cousins' - Eurodate, Anastasiadate, LATAMdate, Asiandate, etc), or you are doing some research for someone you know who is caught up in all this. The people who SHOULD read this, i.e. naive and (sadly) gullible men, won't read it, because they believe it's real. Now, I grant you that miracles do occur and there may actually be a genuine woman on this site looking for a potential man to settle down with, but I seriously doubt it. As I mentioned, men who have already tumbled down the rabbit-hole are probably a lost cause. For the rest of you, hopefully my comments will help to reinforce what you already suspect. Unfortunately, my initial "review" as written was far longer than permitted here, so I have copied and pasted a few paragraphs only. Let me try to 'briefly' explain what's going on with these sites. I'm only familiar with what is happening at the 'user' end of things - that is, from the point of view of the man who joins the site in the genuine search for a female "date". There are plenty of other reviews here, and on other sites, that discuss what happens at the "other end" - where the supposed 'female' is. I should point out that I ended up on Charmdate after having first signed up with Eurodate, and then moving to Anastasiadate. Both of those other two sites are clearly NOT what is advertised - particularly Anasatasiadate. I'll refer back to these sites in this review. When you sign up with Charmdate, you are asked initially for some basic information about yourself. Upload a photo or two to "get more responses". But, as others have already pointed out, there is an automated message system which almost immediately begins spamming you with unsolicited (and, in many cases, quite vulgar) comments and invitations. This appears as a scrolling and ever-rotating series of windows up the right-hand side of the screen. On Charmdate you can turn this 'feature' off by clicking on the "Online" button and then clicking "Hidden". But bear in mind that your online status is not hidden from the female "members", it just stops the annoying comments continuously rolling up your right-hand margin. In order to communicate with a female 'member', new sign-ups are given a relatively low-cost introductory credit purchase option. This is offered at USD 3.99 for two credits. Thereafter you will pay about USD 15.00 for two credits, USD 96.00 for 16 credits, or USD 399.00 for 100 credits. Obviously that last option is the cheapest over the long run, in terms of average cost per credit. Even at USD 3.99 per credit, this site is horrendously expensive compared to pretty much any other dating site out there. At one point, I joined elenasmodels.com for USD 130.00, which gave me practically unlimited communication with members for three months. Charmdate, over the same period, will likely cost you USD 1200 and more (much much more), depending on how many "members" you are in contact with (and that doesn't include phone calls, gifts, etc). Basically, here's my summation of these so-called dating sites. It's possible that some profiles on Charmdate are actually operated by the woman in the photos but, overall, there is definitely a financial component involved. I am confident that, at best, women (who may or may not be genuine) are incentivised to operate their profiles in a way that ensures men are constantly paying out. If asked, they will deny this. At worst, the profiles are a front for a very sophisticated scam. Ultimately, after several months of communicating with the "woman of your dreams", I can promise you that you will be no nearer to realising that "dream", but you will be hundreds or more likely thousands of dollars poorer. This is a guarantee. Do yourself (and your bank account) a favour - delete your profile on Charmdate (if you can figure out how to!) and look for another site. Before signing up anywhere else though, do some due diligence - read lots of reviews about the sites you're interested in. And if all the women on any particular site are young, stunningly attractive, desperate to please you, and don't care how old or fat you are, ask yourself this question: Is it too good to be true?!