偷情网站在法国生意兴旺 据称女性客户占70%

    去年春天，在法国总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德正处于秘密恋情的阵痛之际，皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center )的一项调查发现，在他的国家，只有47%的国民认为出轨在道德上是不可接受的。不过，即使法国人对婚外情漠不关心，那也不意味着他们喜欢被逮个现形。移动设备和互联网（以及装备这两大杀器的狗仔队）使得配偶一方更容易获悉另一方的不轨行为，但技术同样可以帮助行为不端的人掩盖自己的行迹。上谷歌(Google)随意搜索一下，你就可以发现，在法国，为花心男或放荡女提供不在场托词已经成为一项名副其实的作坊式产业。

    一位名叫杰勒德（因本文话题的私密性，此处隐去他的姓氏）的老派私家侦探声称，在调查时意识到“不忠的人需要自由空间”之后，他于2005年开创了法国首个提供私通借口的服务项目。现在，他提供双向服务，既追踪出轨配偶的行踪，同时也通过他的网站mon.alibi.free.fr为他们提供托词。杰勒德声称，他从未接受过会产生利益冲突的业务。

    出轨的客户要求他提供各种虚假证明，从机票到（假想的）会议议程，不一而足。他的秘书在电脑上创造不在场证据，额外收费后，还可以打一个电话或者发个短信以坐实这些虚假的证词。此外，杰勒德还向那些毫无头绪的客户推荐一揽子方案。

    比如，提供一个虚假的周末培训会邀请函将耗费39欧元。每额外增加一个不在场证据——一封电邮确认函，一张来自当事人理应所处城镇的餐厅收据——就需要额外支付39欧元。“这些证据可以迅速增加，”杰勒德说。尽管出轨或许不会受经济衰退影响，但愿意支付的隐藏成本似乎并非如此。“几年前，客户往往二话不说，径直掏出500欧元购买不在场证据，”他指出。“但现在，一听说每件证据需要39美元，他们就怨声载道——但这就是你必须为滚床单支付的代价。”

    10年来，他已经为2,000多人提供过不在场证据。出人意料的是，他说70%的客户是女性，她们使用服务的方式也有别于男性。“男客户往往事后才找我，希望我帮忙解释一下他们上周末的行踪。女客户则倾向于提前规划。她们会说：‘两周后，我打算跟我的情人浪漫三天，你必须得给我找个好借口。”

    继杰勒德创办这项服务之后，许多人纷纷入市，而这门生意所需要的本钱无外乎一台电脑和一些图形设计技能而已。32岁的塞巴斯蒂安居住在克莱蒙费朗附近，6年前在电视上看到这个生财之道之后，他随即开启了自己的在线服务 (expert-alibi.com) 。“我当时失业在家，亟需工作，所以我想为什么不试一下呢？”他回忆说。他一边学习如何成为一位居家儿童托管服务提供者，一边建设网站。现在，他把时间一分为二——照顾孩子的工作持续至下午6点，然后开始伪造不在场证据，一直忙到深夜。塞巴斯蒂安的客户中，男性略多于女性。他的收入起伏不定，冬季一个月约800欧元，夏季的营收额大约是冬季的两倍。法国人每年夏天往往会度过一个远离工作，显然也远离婚姻生活的悠长假期。

    Last spring, while French president François Hollande was in the throes of his secret love affair, a Pew Research Center poll found that a mere 47% of his fellow citizens consider adultery to be morally unacceptable. Even if the French are blasé about fooling around, though, that doesn't mean they like getting caught. Mobile devices and the Internet (and paparazzi armed with both) make it easier to know when a spouse is behaving badly, but technology can also help cheaters cover their tracks. A quick Google search reveals that providing alibis for philanderers has become a veritable cottage industry in France.

    An old-school private detective named Gérard (whose last name is withheld for the purposes of this story) started what he claims is the country's first alibi service in 2005 after realizing during his investigations that "unfaithful people need room to be free." Now he plays both sides, tracking straying spouses as well as providing excuses for them through his site, mon.alibi.free.fr. He claims he's never had a conflict of interest.

    Adulterous clients ask him for a range of fake documents, from plane tickets to programs for (imaginary) conventions. His secretary creates the alibis on her computer, and for an extra fee will place a phony phone call or send an SMS to back up the subterfuge. Gérard can also suggest entire scenarios for clients who are short of ideas.

    A bogus invitation for, say, a weekend job training session will cost 39 euros. Each additional alibi -- an e-mail confirmation, a restaurant receipt from the town where the person is supposed to be -- runs 39 euros more. "It can add up quickly," Gérard says. And though infidelity might be recession-proof, it seems that hiding it is not. "A few years ago, clients would easily drop 500 euros on alibis," he notes. "Now when we tell them each document will cost 39 euros, they say oh là là -- but that's the price for a roll in the sack."

    In 10 years he has provided alibis for more than 2,000 people. Surprisingly, he says that 70% of his clients are women, and that they use his service differently from men. "Men come to me afterwards, looking to explain where they were the weekend before. Women plan. They'll say, 'In two weeks I'm spending three days with my lover, and you have to find me a good excuse.'"

    Since Gérard started, many others have entered the marketplace, needing little more than a computer and some graphic design skills to get started. A 32-year-old named Sébastien, who lives near Clermont-Ferrand, started his online service (expert-alibi.com) after seeing the concept on TV six years ago. "I was unemployed and needed to work, so I thought, why not this?" he recalls. He set up his site at the same time he was studying to be an at-home childcare provider, and now he divides his time between the two -- taking care of kids until 6 p.m., then forging alibis into the night. His clientele is slightly more male than female, and his revenue fluctuates from about 800 euros a month in the winter to twice that during the summer, when the French take long vacations from work and, evidently, from marital life.