A 74-year-old woman from Moore County, North Carolina, says an online relationship left her nearly $35,000 in debt after she spent her children’s inheritance on communication with a man she met through a dating website.
Karen Hasick said she now has thousands of dollars in credit card debt and does not know whether the man she spent more than a year communicating with was even a real person.
“How did I do this? Why was I so stupid?” Hasick said.
She joined a dating site because she was lonely
Hasick said she turned to online dating because she was lonely and wanted someone to talk to and spend time with. She joined DateMyAge, a dating platform that describes itself as a service for mature singles. Hasick said the site offered her a free month of membership.
During that period, she said she received around 100 profile visits a day. One man caught her attention. He went by Noah.
Hasick described him as very good-looking and muscular. She said he told her he was 43 years old, despite the significant age difference.
“Why are you interested in someone my age?” Hasick recalled asking him. “You’re young enough to be my son.”
According to Hasick, Noah replied that age was not a factor.
The cost of staying in contact quickly added up
When the free month ended, Hasick purchased a monthly membership. She said she also had to buy credits to continue communicating with Noah through DateMyAge.
The credits allowed her to use direct messaging and live chat on the platform. Hasick said the costs quickly became difficult to control.
She said she would pay $400 for 1,000 credits or $100 for 160 credits. At times, she estimated that she was spending $2,000 to $3,000 in a single week.
“I was finding money any place I could, you know, to pay for it, and my credit cards were maxed out. You know, I went through all my cash,” Hasick said.
She eventually tried to move the relationship away from the dating platform by giving Noah her phone number and email address.
But she said Noah was a free user and did not have to pay to communicate. According to Hasick, he continued communicating with her only through DateMyAge.
She even bought a ticket to meet him in Brazil
At one point, Hasick confronted Noah about the money she was spending.
“You don’t have to pay for any of this. I do, and it’s costing me a fortune. I’m going through all my money,” she said she told him.
The two had discussed meeting in person, and Hasick eventually bought a plane ticket to Brazil to meet Noah. But only days before she was due to leave, she said Noah told her not to come because it was too dangerous.
Hasick continued the relationship until she eventually gave him an ultimatum: they had to meet in person or the relationship was over.
Only days later, she said, Noah’s profile disappeared from DateMyAge. By then, Hasick estimates she had spent nearly $35,000 communicating with him through the platform.
The money was supposed to be her children’s inheritance
Hasick said the money she spent was intended to become part of her children’s inheritance.
“It was my kid’s inheritance, and now I have nothing,” she said. She is now left with thousands of dollars in credit card debt and questions about what actually happened.
Both Hasick and her daughter, Cori Waldschmidt, question whether Noah was a real person or possibly a bot because all of the communication took place through DateMyAge.
Waldschmidt said her mother kept much of what was happening from her because she was embarrassed. She is concerned that other people could find themselves in similar situations.
“I feel like they took advantage of her, and I just don’t want anybody else to have to experience, you know, the financial piece of it,” Waldschmidt said.
Hasick and Waldschmidt filed a complaint with DateMyAge.
The company told ABC11 that every profile on its platform must represent a real individual who personally uses the account. DateMyAge said bots and third-party operators are prohibited.
The company also said it uses identity verification, manual moderation and automated monitoring.
DateMyAge said purchases on the platform are generally non-refundable. However, after Hasick’s complaint, the company refunded her $1,861 in charges and offered an additional $1,000 goodwill refund in exchange for a full and final settlement.
Waldschmidt said they are not accepting the offer because they want to draw attention to how the website’s payment system operates.
“Be aware of what can happen and do their due diligence to make sure that they’re not taken advantage of,” she said.
DateMyAge also told ABC11’s Troubleshooter Diane Wilson that, because of privacy obligations, it could not comment specifically on Hasick’s case. The company said it was continuing to work toward a satisfactory resolution.
DateMyAge added that it remains committed to providing a safe, respectful and reliable service and addressing legitimate customer complaints through its established support processes.
Hasick hopes others will learn from her experience
Hasick said that, regardless of whether Noah was a real person, she wants her experience to serve as a warning to others using online dating services.
She spent nearly $35,000 over more than a year, using cash and credit cards to maintain a relationship that never resulted in an in-person meeting.
“If nothing else, I hope I can keep it from happening to somebody else,” Hasick said.
