A man says he got catfished and potentially set up on a dating app within months of moving to Los Angeles. Here’s how he escaped the situation unscathed.
TikTok user Mike (@swisherprice) posted a video about his experience earlier in the week. “I was catfished on a dating app a few years ago, and it still haunts me to this day,” he says to start the video.
He explains that it happened just after he’d moved to Los Angeles and was getting to know the area. “I was trying to date. I was trying to meet some people,” he says. He met a woman on a dating app and spent a few hours talking to her. That led to her inviting him out for a drink that evening.
Mike says he borrowed his brother’s vehicle to get to the date. Except that when he showed up, he says he noticed that the area was eerily quiet and next to a shady-looking storage place.
Eventually, the woman told him she couldn’t see him, so she asked him to get out of the car so that she could find him, he recalls. But Mike says he didn’t want to do that because of the location. He says he stayed inside his vehicle. “They’re kind of being dodgy on some of the questions,” Mike says.
Man Gets Catfished On Los Angeles Dating App
Then he says he saw a guy get out of a nearby car with a duffle bag and a phone. That’s when the warning bells really went off. The woman, he says, told him she accidentally gave him the wrong address and sent him an updated location.
Unfortunately, the second area was just as sketchy as the first—by some apartments and a storage place. “I don’t see anybody,” he says. “Again, four or five minutes going back and forth.”
Well, that is until the guy with the duffle bag reappeared.
Mike says it became clear to him that this mysterious man with the duffle bag was actually the person he was communicating with via text. “I send a message. I see him look at his phone, type back a message, and I get a message,” he says. “I know what this is, but I’m just curious. What’s the setup here? Which is stupid. Don’t be like me.”
Mike says he finally asked the “woman” if she was with the guy with the duffle bag outside. He says she denied it and said the guy with the duffle bag was a friend of hers who was simply going to meet Mike and show him the way up to her apartment.
That was the final straw for Mike, he recalls. He says he decided the danger outweighed his curiosity in this case and drove away. He says he received more text messages from the dating app person denying that it was a setup. But Mike believes he was in serious danger.
“So the moral of the story is these apps out here are sketchy,” he says. “They can be very dangerous. You don’t know who you’re talking to. Please, proceed with caution. Share your location with friends.”
Viewers React To The Los Angeles Catfish Story
In the comments, viewers expressed shock and outrage at Mike’s story. “OK, that is horrifying,” wrote one person. “Imagine how scary it is for women. That is how we end up on ‘Dateline.’”
Others disagreed with Mike’s characterization. “That was a set-up, hun!” wrote one person. “Not a catfish, but a crime!”
Another person said, “I don’t even bother with apps anymore. After working in the law enforcement field, knowing that most all these guys have a criminal history, and it being a very small state, just nope. I’ll wait for the next round of mid-life crisis divorces and see who shakes loose.”
@swisherprice Dating apps can be sketchy … #catfish #dating #storytime
The Facts About Dating Apps And Crime
Most popular dating apps don’t use background checks to screen potential users for criminal records. However, as Austin defense attorney Chris Perri notes, Tinder does ask that people self-disclose felony convictions in its terms of service. Other users can report individuals who they know have felony convictions, which has resulted in some users being barred from the platform.
Back in 2022, Tinder partnered with a background check company called Garbo to allow users to purchase background checks on potential matches. However, the service sparked concerns from justice advocates that it was imprecise and disproportionately impacting users of color, particularly men. Tinder recently announced the end of the partnership.
BroBible contacted Mike via email for comment.