PROVO — Lynn Scoresby was shocked at the response to his recently launched, LDS-oriented Web site.

"We're virtually dumbfounded by the extent of the response and the intensity of the interest that people have in what we've done," said Scoresby, a Brigham Young University psychologist. "We've had people walk in — men, interestingly — who ask to be taught how to use the computer so they can get on it."

The site doesn't offer general conference tickets, new genealogical information or access to a previously unreleased volume of "The Work and the Glory." Scoresby's Web site has enticed some 4,000 users in the past two weeks because it's centered around helping LDS Church members reach a goal some pray about often: marriage.

Scoresby's site, www.LDSPromise.com, is the first survey-based, matching site in a sea of rapidly growing LDS singles Web sites. LDS singles eager to find mates have been logging on to LDS dating Web sites in ever-increasing numbers: the largest site, LDSSingles.com, has more than 100,000 members, and anywhere from 100 to 350 people sign up each day.

But with that increase has come another trend: In one month, three incidents of sexual assault have been reported by Utah County women who say they met their alleged attackers on LDS singles sites.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the alleged incidents.

One is a 33-year-old prison guard accused of raping a 19-year-old Pleasant Grove woman, the other a now-expelled Brigham Young University student who allegedly raped one woman and groped another.

All three of the alleged incidents happened in homes the women agreed to go to after meeting the men online, police said.

Mindy Woodhouse coordinates the sexual assault program for the Utah Valley Center for Women and Children in Crisis. Woodhouse says she sees more and more women who have been assaulted by men they met online.

"Especially because that's the way people are meeting a lot now, that's definitely becoming a problem," Woodhouse said. "People can present themselves as wonderful and be something completely the opposite because it's over the Internet."

Part of the problem could be that clients of LDS-oriented sites feel more secure — even falsely secure — because the Web sites are geared toward fellow LDS Church members.

"It feels nice to be in a place where people hold the same values, or at least you expect they do," said Kevin Koger, vice president of business development for LDSSingles.com. "I think people do feel a little safer, and, unfortunately, cases like this make it appear that we need to keep up those same guards and barriers as we would anywhere else we might be."