Hackers stole data from a website that helps married people cheat

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Apparently you shouldn’t trust the website that targets people you shouldn’t trust.

‘Life is short. Have an affair.’

That’s the slogan of Ashley Madison, a popular dating website that hooks up people who want to cheat on their spouse, has been hacked — potentially exposing personal information belonging to the site’s 37 million anonymous users.

Read more: Easy way to know if your account has been compromised

While a website that helps married people have an affair already seems like an obvious target for blackmail, there’s a particular service Ashley Madison offers its customers that the hacker group says is a false promise.

Site’s promise to delete user info a ‘complete lie’?

The group says Ashley Madison’s “full delete” service, which promises to remove all of a customer’s “identifiable information” for a fee of $19, doesn’t actually delete the data. The group even called it a ‘complete lie.’

Read more: Hackers stole Social Security numbers from 21.5 million Americans

According to the hacker group, which calls itself the “Impact Team,’ the cheating site’s users ‘almost always pay with credit card; their purchase details are not removed as promised, and include real name and address.”

The hackers already released some customers’ personal data, including credit card details, and the group has threatened to publish all of the stolen information if the site isn’t shut down.

Avid Life Media Inc., the parent company of Ashley Madison and other sites, released a statement about the breach, stating it’s aware of the incident and the personal data posted online has already been taken down.

“We were recently made aware of an attempt by an unauthorized party to gain access to our systems,” the company said. “At this time, we have been able to secure our sites and close the unauthorized access points. We are working with law enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act.”

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See more on the latest scams and rip-offs.

And while we’re on the topic of hacking, here’s a hack you may enjoy.

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