While I’ve had some enjoyable encounters, I’ve also been deceived. One person lied about their age.
We exchanged messages for about two weeks, and I thought the conversations were going well. However, they seemed hesitant to meet in person. I grew suspicious and stumbled upon a workplace photo in their diary, where I noticed a company name listed on a document in the picture.
After some internet sleuthing, I found their real name and the company’s website, along with their Facebook page. It turned out they were actually 10 years older than they had claimed.
“What? I thought we were the same age, but you’re actually 50?”
I sent them a message asking for an explanation, but received no reply and was promptly blocked. They likely had no intention of meeting from the start, perhaps enjoying a virtual romance with their fictional, younger self.
Another man had hidden a physical disability. We had been chatting for a while, but he became vague when the topic of meeting came up. After a few more messages, he finally revealed, “The truth is, I use a wheelchair. If you’re still interested, please let me know.”
I was shocked and rechecked his profile; there was no mention of this. His profile photo only showed the upper half of his body. My trust was eroded, so I decided not to meet him.
There were others as well; a person who claimed to be a non-smoker but smoked heated tobacco when we met, someone who had less hair than their picture suggested, and individuals who seemed shorter than their stated height.
Ironically, while I say I was “deceived,” I wasn’t entirely honest on my profile either. Initially, I listed my occupation as “stock trader,” but I removed it due to frequent complications. In reality, my earnings from stocks were negligible. However, I did make some money from auction sales, so I set that as my main job and listed my annual income as 3 million yen.
