Illicit Encounters Review December 2024

Explore Illicit Encounters this festive season for discreet connections.
1,400,000 Members
Good For:
5 / 5
3 / 5
3 / 5
Success Rate:
11 / 10
48 / 10
43 / 10
Compare Illicit Encounters
Age Distribution:

Illicit Encounters in 10 seconds

  • It is a dating site for married or attached people who wants to experience having discreet affairs
  • It is only available in the United Kingdom and Ireland
  • It has a large user base in the UK - More information here
  • It has an almost perfect women-to-men gender ratio - Check out here
  • Singles are not allowed to join
  • Uploading a profile photo is not required
  • You can set your photos to private
  • Female members can use the site's features for free
  • Male members have to avail subscriptions to use most of the features
  • It has a high subscription cost
  • It has no mobile app
  • You can use Illicit Encounters for free Test now for free
  • Pricing starts at £20.00 / Week - More Information
Chris Pleines, Author at Datingscout.co.uk
Chris Pleines
Founder of Datingscout and Author of the book "Online Dating for Dummies"
Overall, Illicit Encounters provides a safe and reliable dating service for married and attached people. If you are into this kind of game, then maybe Illicit Encounters is one of the sites that is probably worth your money.

Who is Illicit Encounters for and not for?

  • Married people looking for discreet affairs
  • Those searching for excitement in bed again
  • Attached people looking for casual sex and hookups
  • People who are single
  • Those who are not into having affairs
  • Individuals who are looking for a serious and long-term relationship
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Back to Overview

Illicit Encounters Pros & Cons

  • All features are free for female members
  • The site is safe and secure
  • It has a large user base in the UK
  • It is only available in the UK and Ireland
  • Mobile app is not available
  • Singles are not allowed to join

How much does Illicit Encounters cost?

Can you try Illicit Encounters for free?

Is Illicit Encounters expensive or cheap?

In comparison to other providers Illicit Encounters is above average.
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Duration / Credits / CoinsCostsTotal
Gold Membership
4 weeks35.00 GBP / Week139.99 GBP
Gold Plus Membership
4 weeks42.50 GBP / Week169.99 GBP
10 weeks20.00 GBP / Week199.99 GBP
IE Credits
3,000 Credits0.01 GBP / Credit19.99 GBP
20,000 Credits0.01 GBP / Credit49.99 GBP
Illicit Encounters UK Price
Free Features
  • Creating a profile
  • Uploading photos
  • Searching members
  • Sending virtual kisses
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Premium Features
  • Sending and reading messages
  • Hiding your profile from “Who’s Online”
  • Holiday Mode
    ?
    Suspend your profile for up to 3 weeks
  • Invisible Mode
    ?
    Hide your profile from searches
  • Auto-responders
  • Prepared responses
  • Live alerts
  • Sending virtual gifts

Women can use all the features for free. However, men can only use the following features for free: uploading photos, searching members, and sending virtual kisses. Thus, Illicit Encounters offers two kinds of membership for men: Gold and Gold Plus. Only Gold Plus is offered in a 10-week package duration. The additional features of Gold Plus are not so crucial with regards to having a complete experience from the dating site. However, if you plan on using the website for quite a long time, you can surely get the best out of your money by subscribing to the 10-week Gold Plus.

Illicit Encounters also offers credits, which are used to buy virtual gifts that members can send to other members.

Note that your subscription automatically renews. However, you can cancel your auto-renewal up to 48 hours before your membership expires.

How can I delete my Illicit Encounters account and cancel my subscription?

Please find more information here

Back to Overview

Who is signed up on Illicit Encounters?

Members
1,400,000 from United Kingdom
Members activity
1,000 daily logins
Gender Proportion
49 %
51 %
  • You get a personal profile which you can fill out
  • Over 1,000 members are online every day
  • There are no single members on the dating site
  • Members are only from the UK and Ireland
  • Most members are looking for a short-term affair or something casual
  • Members are mostly within the age range of 30 to 55
  • Male and female members are almost equal in number

Illicit Encounters is only available in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, so all its members reside in those two countries only. With the site having a large user base in the UK, it surely is a popular one.

The member base of Illicit Encounters is composed of individuals who are married, living with a partner, divorced, separated, or widowed. You only have those five status options when you register for an account with the website, which means singles are not allowed to join. Majority of the site’s members are looking for short-term encounters or casual affairs. They do not use the website to find a serious relationship.

The website also boasts of having an almost perfect women-to-men gender ratio.

Females
Males

Illicit Encounters Age Range and Age Distribution

  • 18-24
  • 25-34
  • 35-44
  • 45-54
  • 55+

New members at Illicit Encounters in December 2024 in comparison

Here you can see how membership figures at Illicit Encounters are developing compared to others

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How to Sign Up for Illicit Encounters

IE registration
  • 7-10 minutes registration process
  • There is no email validation required
  • Profiles having contact details, inappropriate language, and sexual references won't be approved
  • You can upload a profile photo later
  • There's a profile generator available
  • There are tips on writing a great profile

Signing up on Illicit Encounters takes up 7 to 10 minutes of your time. There are three steps before you get to fully explore the website.

The first step is the registration process wherein you need to provide your gender, the gender of the person you are looking for, your nominated username and password, email address (optional),  the country and county where you're located (UK or Ireland only), and the source where you knew about the site. You can either choose a photo from their recommended images during this step or upload photos later. In this step, you also need to confirm that you are over 21 years old and agree to Illicit Encounter’s 'Terms of Service’.

The second step is the first half in creating your profile. It is divided into three parts: your basic information (including your appearance), the kind of relationship you're looking for, and your interests. Only the first part is mandatory. It requires you to provide your birthdate, preferred partner's age range, marital status, hair color, etc. In choosing your marital status, you only have five options—married, living together with a partner, separated, divorced, or widowed. For the kind of relationship you're looking for and your interests, you only need to select one or more from the multiple choices provided.

The last step is the second half in creating your profile. In this step, you can see the 'General Information' section and 'Ideal Partner' section, wherein you have to describe yourself and your ideal partner. However, only the first section (General Information) is required. You have the option to complete your ideal partner's info later on. In the 'General Information' section, you can describe yourself by stating your hobbies, interests, work, etc.

Tip: Write more so you could attract more attention.

In this section, you also have the option to either write manually about yourself or use the profile generator. If you choose the profile generator, you only have to answer quick questions, and a profile will automatically be created for you. Once created, you can then make as many edits as you want. 

If you still can't figure out what to write, you can check out the tips on how to write a great profile located on the lower left of this section. Also, note that mentions of contact details, inappropriate language, and sexual references on your profile will not be accepted.

Making Contact on Illicit Encounters

IE contacting
  • Men need to pay to send and read all messages
  • Members can add interesting users to their 'Favourites' list
  • Virtual gifts can be sent for a minimal amount of credits
  • Virtual kisses can be sent for free
  • You can view your matches through 'Matchfinder'
  • Search filters are available
  • Only women can send free messages
  • There is a chatroom

There are three ways how members can facilitate contact in Illicit Encounters, and that is through sending messages, sending virtual kisses, and sending virtual gifts. Sending messages in Illicit Encounters is free for women, but it is a Gold-membership feature for men. Men can send virtual gifts using IE credits, but women can send those for free. Virtual kisses can be sent for free by everyone, and it usually includes a default message with a greeting, the 'About Me' paragraph you wrote, and a closing statement.

Match recommendations are seen on the 'Matchfinder' page, wherein you can tweak how your matches are displayed.

Finding and browsing other members of Illicit Encounters are done on the 'Search' page. Search filters such as gender, age, and location are available. On this page, you can also search for a specific member using his or her login name. 

You can also view the members who are currently online on the 'Who’s Online' page. This page has gender, age, and location filters as well.

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Illicit Encounters Profile Quality

illicit encounters' profile
  • Profile photos can be the available icons recommended by Illicit Encounters
  • Everything you provided upon registration is seen on your profile
  • Photo uploads can be set to private
  • Activity status is displayed on each member’s profile
  • The gifts you received recently are shown in your profile
  • The profiles are not very detailed
  • Profile pictures are visible to everyone for free
  • Profile photo and profile information can be edited later

Profiles in Illicit Encounters do not feature enough details about the member, especially if he or she has not written an elaborative 'About Me' paragraph. However, note that all information you have provided upon registration can be shown in your profile, including your interests and 'About Me' and 'Ideal Partner' paragraphs. So make sure to fill those out well.

The profiles also show a display of gifts a member had recently received.

When you click a user’s profile photo, you will be taken to his or her photo gallery. The photos are organised in two galleries: 'Public' and 'Private'. Public photos are shown in thumbnails, which you can enlarge and view, while the private photos are locked. You need to enter the password set by that particular member to view those.

On every profile in Illicit Encounters, four contacting buttons can be found. These are 'Send Message', 'Send Virtual Kiss', 'Send Virtual Gift', and 'Add to Favourites'. The 'Block this Profile' and ‘Report’ buttons are at the very bottom of the profile.

Since members are not required to upload a profile photo, it is hard to discern if the profiles in Illicit Encounters are genuine. However, it is safe to say that fakes and scammers veer away from this website because messaging is a premium feature, and Illicit Encounters has a high membership cost.

Illicit Encounters App

illicit encounters' display view on mobile browser
  • It does not have a mobile app
  • You can access the site through your mobile browser
  • Dektop version and mobile version are similar
  • Mobile version is more compact
  • You can still use all the features using your mobile device

Illicit Encounters does not have a mobile app. However, a mobile site is available, which means you can access the website through your mobile browser.

There's not much difference when using the site through your mobile device and through your desktop. The design and features are the same. You can still use those features with ease. The display-preference options, dark mode and colour mode, are also still there.

The only difference is that the mobile version is made more compact. By that, its main menu includes 'Expand' and 'Hide' buttons.  

Special Features

Illicit Encounters offers the special features listed below. Some of them are free of charge, but most are features of a Gold and Gold Plus membership.

Matchfinder

This feature displays members who fit the description of your ideal match.

Gifts

This feature allows members to send virtual gifts to other users. Sending gifts may require credits.

Private Photos

This feature allows members to set their photo uploads to private. Viewing a ‘Private Photos' album requires a password that was set by the member who uploaded the said private photos.

Letters to Sara

This is a submission platform of letters from Illicit Encounters members who have concerns about anything regarding the website. Other members are able to see the letter submissions and comment on them too. This feature is similar to an open discussion forum.

IE Polls and Results

This feature displays currently active polls and results that are facilitated by Illicit Encounters.

Holiday Mode

This is a Gold Plus feature that allows you to suspend your profile for up to three weeks.

Invisible Mode

This is a Gold Plus feature that allows you to hide your profile from appearing on search results.

Auto-Responders

This is a Gold Plus feature that gives you the power to send automated responses to members who message you.

Prepared Responses

This feature allows you to save templates of responses so you can send the most fitting reply in just one click.

How can I delete my Illicit Encounters account and cancel my subscription?

How can you cancel your Subscription?

  • You can cancel by sending an email

Will your subscription automatically renew?

  • Yes, your Illicit Encounters subscription will automatically renew. The notice period for opting out of automatic renewal is 2 Days.

Is there a money back guarantee and do you get refunded the full amount?

  • Usually you will not get back the full amount, it will be reduced by the time or credits you used for Illicit Encounters.

Will your credits expire?

  • No, your credits do not expire.
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Illicit Encounters FAQ

Facts

What is Illicit Encounters?

Illicit Encounters is a dating website for married people who are enticed by the idea of having an affair.

Who owns Illicit Encounters?

Illicit Encounters is founded and owned by entrepreneur Stephen Lines.

Who is the CEO of Illicit Encounters?

The CEO of Illicit Encounters is Adam Scott.

When was it first launched?

Illicit Encounters was first launched in 2003.

Which countries is it available?

Illicit Encounters is only available in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Who can join Illicit Encounters?

Individuals who are married, separated, widowed, divorced, or currently living with a partner can join the dating site.

Will I be able to retrieve my Illicit Encounters profile if I delete it?

Unfortunately, you cannot recover a deleted profile.

Can I temporarily deactivate my Illicit Encounters account?

Yes, you can, but temporary deactivation of a profile is a Gold Plus feature.

What is the average age of users on Illicit Encounters?

The average age of Illicit Encounters users is between 35-42 years. You can find more information here

Usability

How does Illicit Encounters work?

Illicit Encounters provide a platform where married individuals can converse and schedule meetings.

Who is Sara? Why do I need to write a letter to her?

Sara is Illicit Encounters' administrator. If you have any concerns regarding the site, you can send her a letter.

How do I upload a photo in Illicit Encounters?

You can easily upload photos in the ‘My Photos’ tab found on the main menu.

How do I send a message?

You can send a message to any Illicit Encounters member by clicking the 'Send Message' button found on his or her profile. Sending messages is free for women but is a paid feature for men.

I just sent a virtual kiss. Why did it include a message I did not write?

Sending virtual gifts automatically includes a default message, which consists of your 'About Me' paragraph.

Cancel

Can I cancel my premium membership anytime?

Yes, you can cancel your Illicit Encounters membership anytime, and you can use the paid features until the day your membership expires.

How do I delete my account?

You can cancel your account by contacting Illicit Encounters’ customer support.

Payment

Is it free to have an account in Illicit Encounters?

Yes, joining Illicit Encounters is free of charge.

Does Illicit Encounters have a premium membership?

Yes, Illicit Encounters has two kinds of membership, which are Gold and Gold Plus. Membership comes with paid features, such as sending messages. However, women can send messages for free.

Is the premium membership auto-renewed?

Yes. Membership in Illicit Encounters is automatically renewed. However, you can cancel your auto-renewal up to 48 hours before your membership is due to expire.

Security

Is Illicit Encounters legitimate?

Yes, Illicit Encounters is a legitimate website.

What safety features does Illicit Encounters have?

Illicit Encounters has a published 'Terms of Use' and 'Privacy Policy', which are strictly enforced and monitored by the administrators.

How do I block an abusive user from messaging me?

You can block any profile in Illicit Encounters by clicking the 'Block User' button found at the bottom of any member's profile.

I suspect a scammer. How do I report him?

You can report a profile in Illicit Encounters by clicking the 'Report this Profile' button found at the bottom of that member's profile.

Does Illicit Encounters sell your data?

No, Illicit Encounters does not sell your data.

Was Illicit Encounters hacked in the past?

No, Illicit Encounters was never hacked.

How accurately does Illicit Encounters track your location?

Illicit Encounters does not track your location.

Do your Illicit Encounters profile pictures or profile information appear in Google Search Results?

No, your Illicit Encounters photos and personal information will not appear in Google Search Results.

Who can view your pictures on Illicit Encounters?

All Illicit Encounters users can view your pictures.

Is your phone number required for signing up at Illicit Encounters?

No, you don't need a phone number to sign up on Illicit Encounters.

Can you erase your personal data on Illicit Encounters?

Yes, Illicit Encounters provides an option for users to erase their data.

How can I delete my Illicit Encounters account and cancel my subscription?

Costs

Can you try Illicit Encounters for free?

How much does Illicit Encounters cost?

Illicit Encounters typically costs between 19.99 GBP and 199.99 GBP. Compared to other dating services, Illicit Encounters's membership costs is above average. You can find more information here

How much does it cost to sign up on Illicit Encounters?

You can sign up for Illicit Encounters for free, but to use its premium features you must upgrade. You can find more information here

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Final Results table

Signing Up: 3.0 / 5
Making Contact: 3.0 / 5
Profile Quality: 2.5 / 5

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Contact details

Address:81E Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AG
Phone-Hotline:020 7729 6098
E-Mail:support@illicitencounters.com