For those with an itch to cheat, there’s a new reason to think twice before sneaking around. Unless you want to risk being outed online.
Cheaterville.com, a U.S.-based website that made its way to Canada last month, allows anonymous users to post stories accusing friends, enemies, co-workers, ex-lovers and acquaintances of infidelity.
The site currently has about 10,000 profiles of alleged cheaters, which include full name, age, hometown, marital status, photos and other information. The infidelity stories are not verified but that doesn’t worry founder and CEO James McGibney.
“There’s lots of things on the Internet and not everything is validated. At the end of the day, it’s up to the person who’s reading the post to determine whether it’s true or not,” said McGibney, noting that the site is moderated and posts with nude photos, personal phone numbers or credit card information are not allowed.
McGibney launched the site on Valentine’s Day in Las Vegas and it has been gaining popularity since then.
A former U.S. marine, McGibney says he decided to start Cheaterville.com after a fellow marine found out his wife had been cheating on him during his deployment. Less than six months later, the site gets about 250,000 hits on a slow day and McGibney hopes that, soon, it will reach a solid five million weekly hits.
Critics, however, argue the site provides angry exes with an outlet to spread false information, ruin careers and break up families.
One Canadian listed on Cheaterville.com, who wished to remain unnamed, denied the accusations and said the site has no business publicizing private matters. The allegations could cause their family enormous distress and ruin their professional reputation, the accused added.
But McGibney said he is not concerned about protecting the reputations of cheaters or worrying whether a cheater’s employer will discover their indiscretions and fire them.
“You absolutely get what you deserve. In my opinion, it serves them right if something like that happens to them.”
