In short
Just Naughty Singles checks every hookup site, its own included, in the same five steps: company and domain records; prices and the billing name; what the terms say about profiles and refunds; dated user reports; and what couldn't be confirmed. A person tests each site, a second editor sources every finding, and checks carry no affiliate links.
| Steps | Company, billing, terms, user reports, unconfirmed |
|---|---|
| Who tests | A person, with a fresh account |
| Before publishing | Second editor sources every finding; legal review |
| Affiliate links | None. We don't link to sites we check |
Plenty of "is it legit?" reviews of hookup sites earn a commission when you sign up to the site they're reviewing. Ours don't: we don't link to the sites we check. That still leaves one obvious conflict: we run a casual dating site ourselves. So the method is published here in full, it applies to our own site first, and every finding in a check points to a source you can open yourself.
A site check, as we use the term, is a dated record of what one website's company records, prices, terms and user reports showed on a given day. It is not a rating or a recommendation.
| Step | What we look at | Where | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Who's behind it | Company name, registration, domain age | Company registers, ICANN Lookup, Wayback Machine | Whether a real, traceable business stands behind the site |
| 2. Cost and billing | Plans, renewals, extras, statement name | A test account | What you'll actually pay, and how hard it is to stop |
| 3. The terms | Clauses on profiles, renewal, refunds, disputes | The full terms of use | What the site admits in writing |
| 4. User reports | Repeated, specific complaints | Regulators, consumer bodies, dated reviews | Whether others hit the same problem |
| 5. Gaps | Anything we couldn't confirm | Our own notes | Where the evidence runs out |
Step 1: Who is actually behind it
We start with the company. The site's footer, terms and privacy policy should all name the same business, with an address. Then we look it up in the official register where it says it's incorporated, such as Companies House for UK companies, the Delaware Division of Corporations for Delaware ones, ASIC in Australia, or the New Zealand Companies Office.
What we record: the company name exactly as registered, where it's registered, whether it's active, and whether the names on the website, the terms and the card statement match. A mismatch isn't proof of anything, but it's worth knowing before you pay.
A registration tells you a company exists. In some places, Delaware included, it tells you very little about who owns it. We say so when that's the case, and that applies to us: Just Naughty Singles is run by Ambervine Inc, a Delaware company.
We also look up the domain through ICANN Lookup and the Wayback Machine to see how old the site is and whether it has changed hands or changed what it is.
Step 2: What it costs, and how it bills
A person signs up with a fresh email address and records, with screenshots:
- what's free and where the paywall starts
- every plan, price and length shown before payment
- how renewal works, and whether any trial rolls into a full-price plan
- extras sold on top: credits, boosts, priority messages, pay-per-message
- the name that appears on the card statement, if we pay
Where we pay for a plan, we cancel it straight away and record how easy that was and whether anything else was charged. A site that makes cancelling hard tells you a lot about itself.
Step 3: What the terms admit
We read the full terms of use, not the summary. These are the clauses we quote, with their section numbers:
- anything about profiles that aren't real people: paid chat hosts, "virtual" or operator-run profiles, or wording that the service is for entertainment
- auto-renewal, cancellation and refunds
- whether profiles are shared with other websites
- governing law, arbitration and class-action waivers
If a site discloses that some of the people messaging you are paid or fictional, that matters more than anything in its marketing. Our guide to reading a dating site's terms shows you how to find these clauses yourself.
What the test account receives
Our test profile doesn't start conversations and never arranges to meet anyone. We log every message and notification it receives in the first 48 hours, with times, and note the patterns: messages arriving within minutes of signing up, before there's even a photo; identical lines from different profiles; replies at all hours; and prompts to pay that land just as a chat gets going. The signs are explained in our guides to fake profiles and chat bots.
We never publish members' photos, usernames or messages. We describe patterns, not people.
Step 4: What other users report
We look for complaints and refund stories in places with some accountability: regulators' enforcement notices and rulings, consumer bodies, and review platforms where reviews are dated. We quote what we find with a date and a link, and we say how many reports we found rather than picking the worst one.
User reports are evidence, not proof. Angry reviews cluster on every subscription service, so we look for repeated, specific complaints (the same billing problem, the same cancellation trap) rather than general fury.
Step 5: What we couldn't confirm
Every check ends with a list of things we tried and failed to confirm. Ownership we couldn't trace, a price we couldn't see without paying, a clause we couldn't find. Leaving a gap visible is more useful to you than filling it with a guess.
The rules we hold ourselves to
- A person tests every site. Nothing in a check comes from a press release or another review.
- Every finding has a source, and a second editor checks each one against it before publication. Checks also have a legal review before they go up.
- Every check is dated, and the date of the latest check is shown at the top.
- No affiliate links, and no links to the site checked. If a site we check has any link to us, through ownership or the partner network, it's stated at the top of that check.
- No star ratings. A score hides the detail. We publish what we found and let you weigh it.
- Our own site gets the same treatment, including the parts that don't flatter us.
Checks will be listed on the site checks page, dated, as each clears review; as of 18 October 2026, none has yet. If you spot a factual error in one, tell us through the members help centre; the about page explains what to include. We correct mistakes and change the date when we do.
Doing it yourself
You don't need us to run most of this. Ten minutes with the company register, the terms and a careful look at the price page will tell you most of what you need to know. The site checks page has a quick version you can use on any site, and our guide to billing traps covers what to watch for at the checkout.
Questions people ask
Do you get paid by the sites you check?
Our checks contain no affiliate links and no links to the sites checked, so we earn nothing if you sign up to one. If a checked site has any connection to us, through ownership or the partner network, we say so at the top of that check, before any findings.
Isn't it odd for a dating site to check its competitors?
It's a conflict of interest, so we say so plainly and run the same method on our own site first. That's also why every finding links to a source you can open yourself. Judge the findings by their sources, not by who wrote them.
Can I ask you to check a particular site?
Yes. Send the site's name through the members help centre. We can't promise which sites we'll check or when, so in the meantime use the ten-minute version of this method on our site checks page. It covers the company, the names, the terms, renewal, the domain's age and complaints.
Why don't you give sites a star rating?
A single score hides the detail you need. A site can be a properly registered company and still bill in a way you'd hate, or have fair prices and a clause admitting some profiles aren't real people. We publish each finding with its source and let you weigh what matters to you.
Have you published any checks yet?
Not yet. As of 18 October 2026, no check has cleared review, including the check of our own site. Each needs a person to test the site, a second editor to source every finding and a legal review. Checks will appear on the site checks page, dated, as each one clears.
Keep reading
- How to spot a fake hookup profile: seven tellsSeven tells that a hookup profile isn't a real, available person, three quick tests, and what to do next.
- Billing traps on hookup sites, and how to avoid themTrials that renew, forgotten renewals, unfamiliar statement names, credits, fake verification charges, and how to stop each.
- Six clauses to read in a dating site's terms before you payThe six clauses worth finding in any dating site's terms, what they mean for you, and the words to search for.
- Cancelling a dating subscription and asking for a refundHow to cancel a dating subscription properly, ask for a refund, and when to go to your bank, with our own steps.
Sources
- Find and update company information — Companies House
- Delaware Division of Corporations
- Companies Office — New Zealand
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- ICANN Lookup
- Wayback Machine — Internet Archive
- Report fraud — Federal Trade Commission
- Just Naughty Singles members help centre
Checked 18 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.