Adultery website signs up 12,000 Hongkongers in just one week

There are at least 12,000 potential adulterers in Hong Kong, if statistics from a recently launched dating site are to be believed.

Infidelity dating website Ashley Madison says that within just a few days of its launch it had already clocked up 12,000 new Hong Kong members and 320,000 unique hits from users located in the city, all eager to explore what founder and CEO Noel Biderman describes as “the intelligent choice” for people looking to conduct affairs.

“I have come here to try and explain that I’m not the devil. I didn’t invent infidelity,” he told the South China Morning Post.

“Affairs have been happening in Hong Kong long before I got here, and my role is not to compete with other dating sites or even persuade people to have an affair. I want to convince people who have already decided to have an affair that my platform is the best place to do it.”

The controversial website connects married or “attached” people looking for “discreet affairs”, and claims to have around 21 million members across 30 countries worldwide.

Biderman, 42, says it is a safer and more effective option for philandering Hongkongers who don’t want to get caught out.

“The perfect affair is meeting someone and not being discovered. That’s not Facebook.