Disclaimer: This article contains details about an alleged sexual assault.
Rising tuition costs are causing more Canadian university students to become “sugar babies” to pay off student debt, according to Seeking Arrangement, a service that allows “sugar daddies” to pay for “mutually beneficial” relationships with a sugar baby.
But these finance-assisting and gift-giving relationships can come with a risk.
A Carleton University student, who wished to remain anonymous, said they used Seeking Arrangement as a sugar baby. The student said the money they received from the service went towards tuition, rent, and food.
The student, however, disclosed having been assaulted by a sugar daddy through the service.
For their first meeting, they spent some time driving around town. But the student said things “got a little bit extreme” when the sugar daddy parked his car.
“It was still daylight, so I didn’t expect anything weird,” they said, and added the sugar daddy then tried to force them to perform sexual acts.
“I kind of said ‘no’. . . He locked the door and that’s really what scared me,” they said.
The student was eventually able to escape the situation, but regretted not reporting the incident to Seeking Arrangement.
“I should have reported him. It definitely threw me off. I didn’t really [use the service] for a while after that,” they said.
Brook Urick, Seeking Arrangement’s events planner, said “online dating is always a risk.”
But Urick said Seeking Arrangment does “a lot” to protect its members.
“We have a member report, so any member who feels threatened or feels like they were wronged by any member, they can report them and within 24 hours our support staff will get back to them. They review each case individually,” Urick said.
“We also have the option for our members to get a third-party background check and that—you submit your social insurance number and you’re verified against any crimes, and that you are who you say you are,” she said.
According to Urick, Seeking Arrangement encourages its members to only date people with verified backgrounds.
“But you know dating and meeting people online, and meeting people anywhere, is always going to be a risk,” Urick said. “We provide people with all the information they need to stay safe, we just have to get them to read it I guess.”
Brandon Wade, the CEO of Seeking Arrangement, said the service takes all member reports seriously.
“All member complaints are thoroughly investigated by our customer support staff. We also regularly post blogs with general online safety tips,” Wade said.
Alexis Germany, public relations specialist for Seeking Arrangement, said the service encourages members to report incidents of sexual assault to law enforcement, and Seeking Arrangement will “fully cooperate with any further investigation.”
“We have an in-house customer support team who watches for suspicious activity and handles all reports that come in on a case-by-case basis,” Germany said.
Tips on how to stay safe using Seeking Arrangement are available on the company’s sister site, LetsTalkSugar.com, which Urick describes as, “the ultimate sugar baby guide.”
If you have experienced sexual violence or sexual assault, these hotlines are available for help:
Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre…………………….24 hour (613) 562-2333 TTY (613) 562-3860
Sexual Assault Support Centre………………..24 hour (613) 234-2266 TTY (613) 725-1657
