Aussie farmers fleeced by dating agency

LONELY Aussie farmers on the hunt for a sheila to share their life with have been the prey of a dodgy dating agency for the last eight years.

The Rural Network introduction agency has been luring farmers with photographs of glamorous young women who apparently want a farmer.

Once a farmer is hooked, the outfit would pressure them to continually increase their membership contributions to have access to more women.

However, it seems to have had no intention of supplying farmers with any partners. Most of the photographs were faked and profiles of women advertised were simply made up by Rural Network's staff.

According to consumer watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the site has been milking farmers for years.

The body has been chasing the organisation since October 17, 2000, and obtained Federal Court injunctions and declarations against the Rural Network and its director, Leanne McDonald, who also uses the names Lana McDonald, Leanne Viney, Lana Viney and Leanne Nolo.

The court said the agency's conduct was "not only serious but calculated and quite callous".

The outfit promised the court it would pay more than 120 men their money back, which the ACCC said it didn't.

McDonald told the Sydney Morning Herald that said she "massively contested" the ACCC's allegations and would continue to dispute them.

She admitted that she herself had numerous entities on the dating site and it was not a problem. "There's nothing wrong with that," she said. "Use whatever name you want." µ