As she laid out the story, Mr. Small commented in disbelief of the guy’s actions — “It’s kind of rapey,” he said — in addition to the stupidity of the woman (a.k.a. Ms. Fowles). “Who is this dumb friend?” Mr. Small asked.

Since then, Ms. Fowles has reached out to Ron one more time, in June. “I was drunk and I left a message asking for my money” that was spent on the hotel room, she said.

The Times contacted Ron, who requested not to be quoted by name. “I remember meeting some women,” he said, referring to the rendezvous at the Aloft hotel. “I don’t remember the details. I don’t remember a promise of payment.”

He said that he looked for women on SeekingArrangement and advertised himself on Tinder as a “sugar daddy” — his profile urged women to “swipe right if looking to be spoiled” — solely because he thought it was a good way to meet women for non-transactional hookups.

He confirmed that he told women that he was an investment banker at Bain and that he had said he had a previous sugar arrangement with a young woman who had moved to Michigan for graduate school. But, he said, “none of that’s true.” He admitted: “All that’s a story” he made up.

Ms. Fowles hopes to warn “sugar babies” of their vulnerability in finding “sugar parents” on websites like SeekingArrangement; if they are taken advantage of or abused in such relationships, they have little recourse . Certainly not with Mr. Wade, the company’s founder, who said, “If she is on the site and engaging in sex for money, she is violating the terms of the site.”