Ashley Madison investigated over allegations it conned users with female bots

Class action lawsuits filed on behalf of customers whose details were published during security breach

Hackers who stole customer information from the cheating site AshleyMadison.com dumped 9.7 gigabytes of data to the dark web, fulfilling a threat to release sensitive information if Avid Life Media, the owner of the website didn't take Ashley Madison.com offline permanently. (Carl Court/Getty Images)

The parent company of infidelity website Ashley Madison, which was infamously hacked last year, is now the subject of a US Federal Trade Commission investigation.

Avid Life Media executives told Reuters the company was being investigated after class action lawsuits were filed on behalf of customers whose details were published during the security breach.

Customers also alleged that the site used fake profiles run by ‘fembots’ that impersonated real women to manipulate users.

An Ernst & Young report commissioned by Avid confirmed that Avid used computer programs to engage in conversation with paying male customers.

It was revealed by executives that the site’s male-to-female user ratio was five to one.

Avid closed down the fake profiles in the United States, Canada and Australia in 2014, but some US users had message exchanges with foreign fembots in late 2015, Reuters reported.

Asked about the fembot messages sent to US customers, Rob Segal, chief executive of Avid Life Media, told Reuters: “That's part of the ongoing process that we’re going through… it’s with the FTC right now.”

But Avid said it did not know the focus of its own FTC investigation.

It comes after Mr Segal and President James Millership revealed the security breach cost Avid Life Media more than a quarter of its revenue.

The company is now spending millions to improve security and privacy updates.

Referring to last year's security breach, Mr Segal said: "We are profoundly sorry," adding that more could perhaps have been spent on security.

Avid Life Media has been approached for comment.