There’s a slew of bad actors on dating apps, from “Tinder swindlers” looking to steal your heart and money to “hatfishers” trying to put one over on people with strategically selected photos. (There’s nothing wrong with a bald man ― hello, Stanley Tucci ― but deception is not cute.)
Unfortunately, sometimes it’s not until you’re on that first date that you realize you’ve been catfished or scammed. That’s rough in the moment, but there’s one silver lining: You’ll have a great story to share later. With that in mind, we asked some comedians and other funny people online to share the worst catfishing experiences they’ve ever had. (In one miraculous case, a person actually had a good catfishing experience.)
Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
The ‘Influencer’
“This story still gives me PTSD, but I was catfished by a guy that was using the profile of a super attractive influencer. I didn’t know who the influencer was at the time, so I didn’t notice it was a catfish profile. We were texting for about three weeks but nothing came of it, despite multiple attempts made by me to meet up with him. One day I asked him what he was doing and he said he was at the mall, and crazy enough, I was at the same mall. I tried to coordinate meeting up with him but he ignored my texts, and that was the last time we ever spoke. Two years later, I came across the influencer’s page on Instagram. He happened to be married for five years and lived in a completely different state! It wasn’t until that moment that I knew I was catfished. Now I follow him and am the biggest fan of him and his wife!” ― Jasmine Burton, a lawyer and stand-up comedian
The Rachel Dolezal
“I once met up with this girl in New York whose pictures looked like a Nubian queen, literally. The first red flag was that she was 30 minutes late. But I was willing to look past that because she was stunning, based on the pictures. Suddenly this woman comes up to me and says my name. I was extremely confused, and she introduced herself with the same first name as my date. She casually sits down like everything was totally normal. The reason I was so confused was because the woman sitting across from me was a middle-aged white woman. I didn’t put it all together until about five minutes into the conversation when I just