Was Ashley Madison involved in a scam?

Ashley Madison, a dating website designed to facilitate extramarital affairs, was embroiled in a major scandal in 2015, but it was not outrightly involved in a scam in the traditional sense of conducting fraudulent activities to deceive customers for its own benefit. Rather, the scandal revolved around a massive data breach where hackers stole sensitive information about the site's users and then released it publicly. This exposed personal details of millions of members, causing widespread privacy concerns and reputational damage to both Ashley Madison and its parent company, Avid Life Media. The incident did highlight deceptive practices within the website, such as the presence of fake female profiles and claims that it would delete user data for a fee without actually doing so, which eroded public trust and led to numerous lawsuits. However, characterizing Ashley Madison solely as a scam would overlook the complexities and nuances of the events that unfolded.