Caveat emptor: [Latin, Let the buyer beware.] A warning that notifies a buyer that the goods he or she is buying are "as is," or subject to all defects.
I decided I would try the whole online dating (OLD) thing again so off I popped to download old faithful Plenty of fish (POF).
I'm a busy girl so I wasn't really using it that much. I received a fair few messages (at one point over 200 un-opened messages were in my inbox) so when I did decide to browse, one message caught my eye.
His profile showed a dark handsome man with the cutest dimples and smile. He's profile said he was a Lawyer and lived in London. His pictures showed his passion for travel and even him with his cute dog - I was hooked.
After a few messages on the app, we quickly switched to what's app to chat. More pictures were exchanged (nothing inappropriate) by both of us. He was incredibly complimentary of my pictures, which I thought was sweet. One of the pictures he sent me was 'him' and a stunning girl, who after I questioned, turned out to be his sister - or so he said.
What's app messages quickly moves onto FaceTime calls. Here was this guy who - well didn't look exactly like his photos, but he was still tanned with a cute smile.
By now we'd been chatting every single day for well over a week. I'd wake up to a "Good morning princess" message. He's call me when he was on his way to work. You see he was driving his Aston Martin to work. He said it was easier to drive, as being a busy Criminal Defense Barrister, he may have to drive between the office and court. He even sent me a picture of his lovely car with a note with my name on - cute.
We would then spend hours in the evening chatting on FaceTime. The evenings were his downtime from such a hectic hot shot job in Westminster.
Having an interest for law, I'd ask him what it was like being a Barrister. I had a genuine interest in his job. Sometimes he seemed quite open, albeit a bit vague. Until one evening I asked about him being registered with the Bar. For this simple question, I got the phone hung up on me.
I racked my brain thinking "shit what did I say wrong?". He questioned my motives. I couldn't quite understand what my motives possibly could have been. He was very good at twisting what I had said to make me in the wrong. He said I must "want" something.
I put two and two together and came up with five. I assumed he meant I must be a gold digger. Oh honey, I haven't worked my arse off to own my own property since the age of 19. I owe my own car (outright), I travel whenever I want and I buy myself lovely designer handbags - when I want. I need no men financially.
Don't get me wrong, when this "gentlemen" offered to whisk me to Venice for the weekend - of course my head was turned. It was also turned at the promise of free airplane tickets to Saint Lucia. And our first date dining at The Shard.
You can see where this is going, too good to be true....?! Yep.
After the rather defensive response to my questions about his job, I decided to check The Barristers Register. Now I knew his first name and had a slight guess at him surname (thanks to searching his number on Facebook) and you guessed it - zero results.
Ok so his name might have been spelt differently. That's when I thought I'd google his phone number. Now I know this makes me sound a tad crazy but unfortunately in this day and age, people lie online so you do have to do your homework - and I'm glad I did!
There are websites such as findwhocallsyou.com where you can leave reviews for phone numbers. I've searched this before and it's usually come up with telemarketers or recruitment consultants. So when 32 (33 including me now!) reports come up for this number, I had to read them.
Here are some of the comments:
10 Aug 2017 - I had the unfortunate experience of *name*. Doesn't work as a Barrister. Does not live in Marylebone. Is very poor, not attractive has moobs and is short. Will blame you for his short comings and will divert the subject and blame you for him lying. What a loser.
15 Jan 2017 - Mental!dangerous !all the pictures on his fake profiles belong to a famous model called Farzan Atharj.
19 May 2017 - This guy is a total Pyschopath. Called me a liar and threatened to ruin me because I was talking to other guys (after having talked to him twice!!). I want to report him to the police-anyone have a real name? He goes by the name of *name*. Can you only report a phone no?
You get the picture right. Now it seems like I've been pretty lucky because I never actually met him. We were supposed to meet tomorrow but I'm still ill so we rearranged.
I think I've been one of the lucky ones. Whilst I've wasted nearly two weeks speaking to the psychopath, I thankfully never gave him any personal details such as where I live.
I did however sadly share my stories about my past. I'm partly annoyed with myself for being so trusting and open. My personal experiences are exactly that, mine. In future I won't be sharing something so personal with anyone until I truly know and trust them.
Luckily I'm laughing about this nut job. I mean who actually has the time to think of being someone completely different?! Someone very sad with no friends or a life!
One of the comments mentioned this mans pictures are from an Iranian model called Farzan Atharj. I google the images and of course all the pictures he sent me are this mans, even the one supposedly with his sister.
I thought the picture looked a little too cosy to be a sister lol
Anyway, let this be a warning to anyone else if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Also google that number! This isn't the first time I've uncovered a liar. The previous one had a wife! Again thank god I do my homework ahead of meeting someone.
Anyways as the app is named, there's plenty more fish in the sea.... but perhaps for now it's time to hand my fishing rod up.