Online Dating...A True Story

When using internet dating as a way to meet people, users have to be aware of the risks that come along with exchanging email addresses, phone numbers or chat-line user names. People can create fake profiles and use fake photographs as well as untrue information about themselves. For experienced online daters, it may be easier for them to decipher between real and fake profiles, but for people who are new to the online dating world it is harder for them to know the difference, and they need to take more precaution. For example, a situation occurred where a woman in Canada spent time talking to a man from the United States. They emailed and spoke on the phone several times, developed a connection and decided it was time to meet face to face. The man appeared to have all the positive qualities the women was looking for and they both felt that it was time to meet if they wanted to pursue any kind of relationship. He flew her out to California; shortly after she arrived she began to see discrepancies in what he had told her about himself. For example, the car that he said he owned was in the shop and his main residence was under renovation. Through friends of his that she met right away, she discovered that he didn’t even own a car nor have a house that was under renovation. She questions him about this new found information and he denied it. Immediately after that they had planned an overnight trip to Palm Springs from L.A. When the women went to put her luggage in the car that he had borrowed, she was startled by the sound of several police cars approaching her and surrounding the vehicle. With guns drawn the police arrested the man for passed incidences of fraud and theft. In shock, the women got on the next plane and returned home. This is a definite example of the type of deceit that can be encountered with internet dating. This being said, internet dating has its risks and fortunately the women came to no physical harm but still continues to use internet dating as her only means of meeting men. Therefore, the aspects of dating completely change when internet dating is used because tangible aspects of the other person’s life cannot always be initially verified and it is easier for people to lie about themselves. With traditional dating, the factors of a person’s life and who they are is more difficult to disguise and people rely a lot more on first impressions as well as vibes and chemistry.