It seems bizarre but when I first signed up there were a fair few of suitable local matches, who seem to have disappeared from my search results.

In the meantime, I am being inundated by what appear to be distant fake accounts, and I have no interest in distance accounts, much less fake ones. This took place in the space of five days or less.

NOTE: I have used, from the very beginning, the "filter" which limits first, incoming messages to those from a certain distance. Well, that's a spectacular failure.

Sounds like the earlier matches deactivated.

The site has NO control over who matches with you and remember it’s only a game so just ignore or play the game yourself.

Di
Site Moderator

Nearly four dozen within 5 days, deactivated, within a 50 mile radius?

A contact filter that doesn't work at all?

Well, like you say. I shouldn't complain. You get what you pay for (this is a free account). I wonder how those who have paid feel?

Scammers get scammered frequently here so I’d be grateful.

If you think your email filter is not working, then please contact Support who will look into this for you. Here is the link http://mingle2.com/welcome/contact_us

just tried to send you a message. it failed. your mail filters are working.
and yes the scammer accounts disappear that fast.
as far as your fair few local matches... are you referring to mutual matches?
if yes then the explanation is simple...
when you first use mutual match(the game) it starts with profiles that fit your basic search parameters. but it only shows each one once. after you have seen all that fit it resets basic search to the wide open original default and keeps showing more from further away.
stick with basic and advanced searches and their results