The rise of the online gold digger

Gorgeous young women seek older men with GSOH - and loads of cash.

The sugar-daddy business is booming. Seeking Arrangement, a popular American website, has just launched in Britain. It is for young women who want to be taken care of by rich older men and rich older men who want the reverse. Like other such sites, it offers a market place where its members can engage in what Julia Llewellyn Smith in The Sunday Telegraph calls "brutally brazen transactions". On mainstream dating sites, "members witter about soul mates'. On gold-digging websites the talk is of no-strings' arrangements."

There are plenty such sites around. Seeking Arrangement, founded ten years ago, now has a million members on its American site and it already has 100,000 in Britain. If you're a woman it's free, if you're a man it's £31 a month, ensuring that women outnumber men ten to one. Some of the women are very frank about what they want: Gorgeous', who is 23, blonde and British, expects $5,000 to $10,000 a month from a sugar daddy; Sugar Baby', 25, sets the bar higher: she wants $10,000 to $20,000.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
MoneyWeek

MoneyWeek is written by a team of experienced and award-winning journalists, plus expert columnists. As well as daily digital news and features, MoneyWeek also publishes a weekly magazine, covering investing and personal finance. From share tips, pensions, gold to practical investment tips - we provide a round-up to help you make money and keep it.