My online dating horror story might make you deactivate your Tinder account

We all have online dating horror stories. Too many, probably. Photo: Shutterstock/IndiaPicture

After being set-up for blind dates by my friends, I ended up spending most of my evenings with morons of all kinds. From mama's boys to male chauvinist jerks, my dating experience had been everything but interesting.

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Who needed friends to find me a prince charming? In today's day and age, where everything can be ordered digitally, be it grocery or meds, how hard could finding a boy be?

Thus, began my online boy hunt journey. I too succumbed to the Tinder bait.

What followed were series of left swipes, but ultimately there did happen a right one. This man didn't seem desperate, who was here for a rebound or to cheat on his wife. He had interests quite similar to mine.

As we began chatting, I got to know that he worked for an MNC in Gurgaon and was a part-time model. After he shared ample personal information, which was rather surprising since we were practically strangers, I toned-down the conversation, resorting to friendly banter.

After a quick interaction, he requested me to move the conversation to Facebook.

Since I was not well-versed with rules of online dating, I did not protest either. Also, FB was a much familiar territory and it gave me the confidence to proceed.

His page was loaded with pictures, mostly sourced from a photoshoot. I quickly scanned it, ready to block him in case I came across anything fishy. After good ten minutes of FB stalking-cum-research, I mentally gave him a clean chit.

After three weeks of constant interaction, he asked me to meet him for a date. I also thought it was a natural progression. I zeroed-in on the densely populated and safe spot--Connaught Place.

So, there I was, all decked-up and waiting for him at our pre-decided spot. It was 20 minutes past our meeting time and he had still not shown up. I logged into FB trying to contact him only to find his messages flooding my inbox.

He has asked me to message him my phone number since there had been an emergency of some sort and he wanted to speak to me. Seeing no other way out I obliged. Promptly after ten minutes my cell phone rang. Cutting long story short-he told me that his car had broken down near Moolchand and he would not be able to travel to CP. I was about to postpone our meeting when he came up with a strange request. He said his friend was in the area and he could offer me a ride so I could meet him and make alternate plans. Common sense prevailed and I said 'No'.

From mama's boys to male chauvinist jerks, my dating experience had been everything but interesting. Photo: Shutterstock/IndiaPicture

Not interested in the guy after being stood up I cut down my interaction with him. He continued bombarding me with calls but I was in no mood to entertain him any further. Now, you would be wondering what was so horrific about the whole episode anyway, right?

Well, after about a month I met a female friend who too had signed-up on Tinder. While sipping on our cuppas, she started talking about her dating experience, bringing up some really hilarious incidents. Then, suddenly her tone changed. She went on to share one episode in particular, where she was stood up because her date's car had broken down and he had requested her to allow his friend to pick her up instead.

Now, that gave me chills. It was too much of a coincidence. I told her the same thing had happened to me and asked her to show me the guy's profile picture as I had blocked him.

As it turned out, her date and mine were the same! Was it possible that the same thing had happened twice? And why would he ask his 'friend' to pick up his dates? Maybe he had some ulterior motive and the profile with a handsome man posing for a picture was just a bait to lure girls.

I asked my friend to immediately report him, and she did. I'm done with online dating, and have decided to give the reigns of my dating life back into the hands of my trusted friends.

(The author chose to stay anonymous)