A dating website for married people who want to cheat on their spouses is being sued by a former employee who says she damaged her wrists typing up hundreds of fake profiles of sexy women.
Doriana Silva is seeking $20 million from Ashley Madison for what she calls the company's "unjust enrichment" at her expense, plus another $1 million in punitive and general damages.
In her statement of claim, Silva — a Brazilian immigrant living in Toronto — says she was hired to help launch a Portuguese-language version of the site and promised a starting salary of $34,000 plus benefits.
She was soon asked to create 1,000 "fake female profiles" meant to lure men to the new Brazilian Ashley Madison site — and given only three weeks to complete the work, the document alleges.
"The purpose of these profiles is to entice paying heterosexual male members to join and spend money on the website," it reads.
"They do not belong to any genuine members of Ashley Madison — or any real human beings at all."
The allegations have not been proven in court and Ashley Madison has yet to file a statement of defence.
The company, which describes itself as a dating service for married people, did not respond to requests for comment.
In her claim, Silva says she didn't question her assignment, and no one at the company suggested there was anything "unlawful or improper" about the alleged phoney profiles.
In fact, she was led to believe "that doing so was some sort of a normal business practice in the industry," it says.
Had she been aware of the "ethical and legal issues arising in relation to online fraud," Silva would have turned down the work, she alleges in the document.
Creating the profiles "required an enormous amount of keyboarding" and Silva developed severe pain in her wrists and forearms, the claim says.
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