NZ man loses $1m to fraud dating agency

A New Zealand man has been duped of nearly 1 million dollars and has had to sell his home, car and shares for the love of a woman who may never have existed.

He is among the 11u00a0 'lonely and vulnerable single' men who are claiming that services of an Australian dating agency - True Love Corp - did not eventuate or fell well short of what was promised, reports Stuff.co.nz.

Two of the men claiming unfair trading have intellectual disabilities; one is deaf and another attempted suicide after being pursued by debt collectors.

Looking for love, the single men signed up hoping to find the perfect partner. Instead, TLC - True Love Corp - exploited their vulnerability, pressuring them to pay exorbitant sums to meet women who, in some cases, may not have existed, a court has heard.
The man who had lost his wife to cancer paid more than NZ 923,000 dollars, believing a woman named Angie wanted to marry him. He came to Australia for their wedding but she phoned to say she was flying to America, where her daughter had been in a car crash.

Deeply in debt, the man phoned TLC for a refund, a woman identifying herself as Hollie Veall, the director of TLC, answered. He recognised her voice as that of ''Angie'', the NSW Supreme Court heard.

The NSW Department of Fair Trading took action against Veall and Zivko Dimitrijevski, another former director, over alleged fair trading and trade practices breaches.

The pair did not attend court to defend the case, which proceeded without them before Justice Terence Buddin.

u00a0The court will consider the issue of restitution when the case resumes later this year.