MyLife.com Scam Class Action Lawsuit Moves Ahead

A class action lawsuit claiming that MyLife.com is a scam can move ahead, a federal judge ruled last week.

Top Class Actions first told you about the MyLife.com class action lawsuit in February, which accuses the company behind Classmates.com of preying on new victims by rebranding itself as MyLife.com after losing a class action lawsuit last year.

Classmates.com was sued in 2008 for defrauding consumers out of money by using spam emails that falsely stated past acquaintances were trying to contact them, and then charging subscribers a fee to discover no one was trying to contact them at all.

Classmates.com settled the class action lawsuit last year for $9.5 million, but the people behind Classmates.com have continued the scam under the name MyLife.com, says the class action lawsuit.

According to the MyLife class action lawsuit, MyLife attracts subscribers by sending mass email solicitations saying that “someone” is searching for them, and then charging subscribers a fee to show an ultimately bogus list of names.

Sound familiar? That’s exactly what Classmates.com was accused of in its 2008 class action lawsuit.

The MyLife scam class action lawsuit also accuses the social networking site of hacking into subscribers’ computers and spamming contacts in their email address books with more solicitations.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken upheld the claim the MyLife’s initial email solicitations violated the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, saying “The plaintiffs have adequately pleaded that they were wold fake names and useless information, and that they were billed for a different subscription than the one they selected.”

Judge Wilken did, however, let Oak Venture Capital — the firm that provided MyLife with a $25 million bankroll — and six individual defendants off the hook because the “complaint does not explain what these defendants did to participate in the alleged scheme,” according to last week’s decision.

On Nov. 15, 2012, this particular MyLife.com lawsuit was dismissed. However, numerous other MyLife lawsuits have been filed since. 

MyLife Lawsuit Alleges Cyber Extortion Scheme

Minnesota nail technician Allyson C. says a quick internet search brought her to MyLife.com where it states that she has been arrested and has criminal record. Both of which, the MyLife.com lawsuit claims, are untrue.

When the plaintiff contacted MyLife to dispute the criminal record, her requests were allegedly ignored and the false information stayed visible on the site.

According to the MyLife.com lawsuit, the true business behind MyLife appears to be a “classic extortion scheme whereby the company posts negative information online in the hope that individuals will ‘claim’ the page with the negative information by enrolling in a monthly plan costing between $13.95 and $16.95 per month.”

Allyson says the false information has damaged her reputation and her in-home business as many potential clients will do an internet search before scheduling an appointment for nail services and see a false criminal report.

The MyLife lawsuit further claims that the company intentionally posts inaccurate information to elicit payments from users who want to correct the false information on their page.

Allyson says MyLife.com’s conduct has caused her anxiety, anger and humiliation.

Do you have a story similar to what Allyson experienced? Leave a comment below to share.

The MyLife Lawsuit is Allyson C. v. MyLife.com, Case No. 0:19-cv-02056, in the Fourth District Court in the State of Minnesota.

UPDATE: The MyLife Lawsuit was dismissed on October 11, 2019.