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Lone Star Introductions, a dating service site that was operated in Texas has been shut down because of its illegal operations. The Attorney General's office said on Wednesday that the firm threatened and harassed its clients. The State District issued a ban on the service on Tuesday that ordered the all the affiliated sites such as eLove Matchmaking, International Introductions and International Dating Ventures to stop operating with immediate effect. A lawsuit was filed this week by the Attorney General Ken Paxton's office accusing the company of using "false, deceptive and misleading acts and practices to persuade consumers to sign expensive services for Defendants' services," as reported by Reuters.

The services harassed the customers to join their high priced services that ranged between $8000 and $13000. However, if the customers tried to cancel or stop their subscription, the services threatened them, that violated the state law. The firm's attorneys have not yet returned the request for a comment. According to the court papers, the defendants will be paying $500,000 in civil penalties, with $495,000 abatement if they cease operations in the state for the next 10 years, as reported by Reuters.

The Attorney General's office said that the company made cold calls and use pressure techniques to get the Austin and San Antonio users to sign up for the highly priced services that that they never really got. The customers who tried to cancel or revoke their subscriptions were threatened and harassed which is a violation of the debt collection act. The company also didn't comply with the requisite safety measures of the dating service like conducting background validations checks on its members. The company is now required to mention on their website that they no longer provide the dating service, says Keye TV.