{"id":67654,"date":"2022-08-17T18:11:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T01:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneyppl.com\/?p=67654"},"modified":"2022-10-05T06:24:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:24:43","slug":"these-people-met-their-online-friends-and-the-results-were-disastrous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.moneyppl.com\/these-people-met-their-online-friends-and-the-results-were-disastrous\/67654\/","title":{"rendered":"These People Met Their Online ‘Friends’ and The Results Were Disastrous"},"content":{"rendered":"
These days, chatting with someone online is a common occurrence. It’s a great way to meet people who live across the world but have similar interests. We can’t always go out and make friends, which is why it’s so convenient to talk to people online. Most of us never meet up with our internet friends, but some people<\/a> actually do meet them in person. <\/span><\/p>\n We hope our internet friends are the same online as they are in person. Unfortunately, there are instances when these people are completely different in real life<\/a> than on the internet. We’ve all experienced a <\/span>horrible roommate<\/span><\/a> here and there, but a horrible internet friend can potentially be worse. These internet users shared their horror stories about meeting their internet friends in person. These range from complete stalkers to people who are three times the age they pretended to be<\/a>. Let’s just say, these stories make us want to never make friends on the internet again. <\/span><\/p>\n When we meet people online<\/a>, they can pose as any personality and any persona. You can be whoever you want to be without repercussions. When you finally meet someone in person, that’s when you can’t hide who you are anymore. People see your true colors in person. This internet user shared a time they met someone in person that they’d been talking to online.<\/span><\/p>\n They hit it off and continued seeing each other. suddenly<\/a>, after a few dates, “he suddenly vanished offline. No social media<\/a>, he wasn’t answering texts or emails, nothing. I thought he’d ghosted me. After 6 months he reappears, I asked him where he’d been and he said ‘I don’t want to talk about it.'” That’s just sketchy. It’s one thing to ghost someone for a few months, but another thing entirely to ghost someone, randomly reappear, and then be secretive<\/a> about it when you see them again in person. <\/span><\/p>\n A few weeks later, they started Googling names out of boredom and curiosity. When they Googled the guy’s name, they found a terrifying article. They said they “Googled his name and found a local news story<\/a> from his area, one of those “crime and courts” things that he had been done for statutory [assault] of a minor, online grooming and had his computer and phone seized as evidence.” Imagine finding this article about someone you’d recently been intimate with? That’s terrifying. At least they never spoke to them again (via Ranker<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oftentimes, people online pretend to be younger than they are. They have alternate intentions and try to pursue people who are half their age. This 15-year-old experienced just this after she met her online friend from Discord in person. On a school trip, she realized she’d be in the same town as him. After exchanging several messages, they decided to meet up in real life<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n While walking around the city<\/a> with her classmates, she opened a message from her internet friend named Baptiste. She said she just saw “a photo<\/a> of myself, from my back, with a message saying roughly ‘I found you.’ In a reflex of understanding, I turn around and notice that … There is no one behind me. Nobody. I start to have shivers of fear, and a rise of anxiety.”<\/span><\/p>\n At this point, she’s freaking<\/a> out, and understandably so. If you’ve never met someone in person and suddenly they’re sending you creepy pictures<\/a> of yourself, all you want to do is run. “A few seconds after we stop, I get another message … Another photo of me … of my back … Creepy isn’t it? I look behind me, but nobody. Then, I saw him on a bench eating ice cream. Our group passed by him. I then take out my phone and send it a message to try to defuse the problem: “I SAW YOU ! 😀 now you can wait until I finish the visit<\/a> please? ^^’ “.<\/span><\/p>\n But it doesn’t stop there. Luckily, this girl was with a bunch of her friends. When Baptiste finally approached her, her friend Jonathan pretended to be her boyfriend in an attempt to get the creepy dude, who was at least 27 years old, to back off. She said, “my friends are just as shocked as I am and Baptiste starts talking to me saying hello, coming over to hug me. He approaches me and takes me under his arm, as if we are “love-love” and that we know each other very well.”<\/span><\/p>\n They eventually get him to leave, but she was traumatized by the entire experience. Her teachers admitted they noticed a guy following them around and tried to get him to leave them alone. More eyes were watching than they knew. She’s lucky that’s the extent of the story since it could’ve been a lot worse (via <\/span>Reddit<\/span><\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hearing someone’s voice for the first time can make or break a relationship. If you don’t like their voice, how could you like them as a human? Even though it seems shallow, we must admit it’s true. This internet user shared their experience with their internet friend. Even though they never met them in person, they spoke on the phone.<\/span><\/p>\n At first, they didn’t like their voice because “his voice creeped me out. It was how I imagined a serial killer would sound.” Once they got over that, they started noticing other red flags<\/a>. The guy told her he lived in the same town but was unable to share anything specific about the town. <\/span><\/p>\n She said, “whenever I brought the neighborhood up, he changed the subject. At one point, I asked him what his favorite restaurant on the boulevard was and he hedged, so I made up a restaurant that I said was my favorite. He immediately said that was his favorite too and that he especially loved one of their dishes. He went on and on about this wonderful place<\/a> that didn’t exist (and there wasn’t a similar one in town, so he couldn’t be confused).”<\/span><\/p>\n She immediately called him out. Because he’d lied, he had no way of defending himself. It turns out he didn’t even live in the same state. That’s utterly terrifying. At least she’s nowhere near him (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This one is a real kicker. First of all, this internet user met up with a guy in person that she had been texting<\/a> every day on MeetMe. Pretty standard. But from the moment she met him, she knew something was off. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep because he’d been partying until 5 AM, his room was nothing more than a mat on the floor and a jewelry box of mementos, and she had to pay for his bowl of ramen.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, she met his friends, who were picking on him. Once they ended up at the party, he completely abandoned her. She said, “I waited for my friend to come back from saying hello to everyone inside…he never did. I was outside on the patio with these strangers for about three hours. People kept coming up to me<\/a> and asking if I was all right.” That’s a mean move.<\/span><\/p>\n She decided to get a motel, but ended up getting escorted to her friend’s house by a random person at the party. She said, “we got to the house<\/a> and I thanked him for walking back home. I appreciated it. I went to bed in my friend’s room. He woke me up in the middle<\/a> of the night kissing me, trying to get his freak on. I simply said no. I’m not interested in having sex. His exact words were, “Are you serious? What was the point of you coming here? You’re such a waste of time!” <\/span><\/p>\n My feelings were hurt. I went back to sleep, woke up, and left.” She never wrote him again. He messaged her a month later asking to borrow $50. Let’s just say, she dodged a major bullet (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n Just because we often meet people who are the creepy ones, it doesn’t make us immune from being the creepy ones. This honest person on Reddit shared their story about meeting their internet friends in person. On the flip side, they were the horror story<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n They said, “I was part of an online writing community that I enjoyed and I made a lot of good friends through the years. One man and his wife were visiting from another country so another guy from my area and I were going to take them to dinner and have a nice in-person evening with sight-seeing and conversation.” We all have good days and bad days. It happens. This person just so happened to meet up with their internet friend on a bad day. <\/span><\/p>\n They said, “my (now ex) husband and I were having major issues and I was near my mental and emotional breaking point. I had lost 15 pounds in three weeks just from pure stress. On top of that, my family had chosen that evening to have a get-together for my uncle who would soon be traveling to undergo surgery for cancer.”<\/span><\/p>\n That’s completely understandable. It would even be a good topic to discuss at dinner since their internet friends would probably feel compassion for them. Unfortunately, they were only a shell of the person they were. They said, “I showed up in the body, but that was basically it. My mind was a million miles away. I wasn’t talkative at all, and I left after about an hour. I feel like I lost three good friends that evening because of my behavior at dinner and my subsequent withdrawal from the whole community. I’m sure they look back<\/a> on that evening and think what a nightmare host I was.” At least they didn’t lie about their age or stalk them like many other people on this list experienced. Even though it’s a sad way to end a friendship, it’s better than others (via <\/span>Reddit<\/span><\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n Back in the ’90s when Bulletin Board Systems were as popular as Facebook, people made internet friends quickly. This internet user shared their experience making friends with a guy from North Carolina. He was friends with all of her girl friends from the dorm, which is obviously a red flag. A couple of months after the two were exchanging texts, the guy mentioned he was coming to her state for a wedding<\/a>. How perfect<\/a>, they’d finally get to meet in person! In an ideal world, this would seem like a good omen. But in this case, it was the complete opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n “Day arrives, dude shows up. I should mention that I and all my college friends were 18 or 19, this guy was 24. Or so he said. Guy looked like, and I’m not exaggerating, a cancer patient. Pale, gaunt features, long greasy pale blond hair except where he was bald on top, and just generally looked like he was about to die or he was dressed<\/a> as a ghoul for Halloween.” That doesn’t sound like a guy you’d want to keep in touch with online.<\/span><\/p>\n She said, “he insisted on hugging all of us. When we all started hanging out, things just got worse. He was asking really invasive questions of all of us, making weird comments<\/a> to whatever was said, just all around creepy and distressing. I was sitting on the floor with another friend and actively rocking back and forth from discomfort.” To get out of the discomfort, she said she hurt her back and preferred to sleep on the floor. He insisted on sharing the bed, but she said no, and he eventually left (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When we’re 15 years old, we don’t know any better. What we see is usually what we believe. This is also true for people on the internet. This user shared their experience with their internet friends Venus and Lord Gumby. They said, “I knew she was a woman but had no idea what she looked like. I also knew she was dating a guy in real life with the handle Lord Gumby, who was also a friend online. Being a socially misadjusted 15-year-old, I had a crush on her anyway even though I knew they were both like 18.”<\/span><\/p>\n It’s completely normal to have a crush on someone who’s a few years older than you, especially as a teenager. There’s something mysterious about an 18-year-old woman. They said, “this was like 1992, so privacy wasn’t as big concern and they knew my address. This was also when people<\/a> would randomly come by your house to see if you were home. That’s unfathomable today.” If this happened today, people would lock their doors and call the cops. Even though it’s the sad reality<\/a> of the world we live in, there’s nothing we can do about it.<\/span><\/p>\n He said, “so one Saturday morning<\/a> I’m at home on my computer totally disheveled, un-showered, and just gross in ratty sweatpants and no shirt. I hear a knock on the front door and go open it. There’s a woman who was incredibly beautiful<\/a> standing there and she just goes “Hi! I’m Venus!” I stood there for a minute it seemed like jaw dropped trying to say something when Lord Gumby walked up and was like “Hey doofus, ever met a woman before?” <\/span><\/p>\n Needless to say, I wanted to sink into a hole in the ground and die.” That’s one way of finally meeting your internet friends. At least they were friendly and made jokes to lighten the vibe. It could’ve been a lot worse (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Online dating can be tough. It takes a lot of effort to meet in person. Your schedules have to line up and you both have to be willing to be in a slightly uncomfortable position when you first meet. It could end well and lead to a second date or it could end horrendously and you both end up hoping you’ll never see each other again.<\/span><\/p>\n This internet user shares their experience abandoning their FetLife dating platform and shifting everything to Tinder. She said, “I match with a guy that looks white collar, tailored, professional. Just my type. We match, and talk for a week or so until we decide to get drinks. I get to the bar (took an Uber<\/a> there) and look around… don’t see him. Until this scraggly-looking guy comes up to me and says, “Oh, hey grenadinegarden! I thought you’d never make it!”<\/span><\/p>\n Now, we all understand having bad days. When we’re tired and stressed, the last thing we want to do is get dressed up and put effort into how we look. Even though this internet user also understands this, she said, “his hair was significantly longer (think short, well-manicured hair versus mid-back length uncombed waves), he was covered in a patchy beard, and dressed really badly. I honestly didn’t recognize him, and he waved it off with, “Sorry. Those pictures are kind of old”. Kind of old? He probably means decades old. If it even is him. Regardless, she ignores the red flags and gets a drink with him. That’s when it gets weird.<\/span><\/p>\n He then “leans in toward me, puts his hand on my thigh, and says, “You know, after you didn’t message me back on FetLife, I’m surprised we matched on Tinder. You really are quite<\/a> beautiful.” She’s utterly confused. They matched on Tinder, not FetLife. Then, “he chuckles, literally chuckles like a villain in a movie, pats my thigh, and says “I’m going to the bathroom. You should look at your profile and figure it out. I found you because your body is quite distinct.”<\/span><\/p>\n That was the last straw. Instead of waiting around, she used the “Angel Shot” protocol by explaining the situation to the bartender and escaping through the backdoor. She deleted all of her social media<\/a> and only had to deal with a few angry messages from him. Let’s just say she got away lucky (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s one thing to lie about your age by a few years, but another thing to lie about your age by 24 years. This internet user said, “(he) said he was 14. Turns out he was 38. My parents<\/a> gave him a stern “talking-to.” That’s downright horrendous. This guy pretended to be 14 but was 38 in real life.<\/span><\/p>\n This internet user probably wanted to meet him in person, but after finding out his real age, obviously didn’t. At least her parents were supportive and talked to him, aka told him to disappear off the face of the planet or else they’d call the cops (via <\/span>Ranker<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sixteen years ago, this Reddit user shared a horror story about meeting their internet friend in person. They’d been speaking on the phone for a while, so it only made sense to finally meet up in real life. They met up at their friend’s laundromat since it was public, which was a smart move.<\/span><\/p>\n When the guy finally arrived, she was shocked. “He pulled into the parking lot in an old beat-up car<\/a> with all his belongings in the back seat and he looked about 50 years old. He was pretty scary and I was pretty freaked out. I guess he thought he was moving in which was no way happening as I had a roommate. What he told me on the phone was he was a few years older than me and I never saw a picture.” She immediately told him she was not interested and made him leave. He deserves that, though, since he flat-out lied to her and made too many assumptions (via <\/span>Reddit<\/span><\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You never really know who you’re talking to online. There’s no way to tell who’s hidden behind that screen, which is why it’s so nerve-wracking to meet up with someone in real life after speaking to them often online. This internet user met up with a girl they’d been speaking to online on Quizilla. Her mother made her bring his older brother along, which is understandable. As a 15-year-old, you never know what could happen.<\/span><\/p>\n They met up at a museum and she looked the same in real life as she did in photos<\/a>. The day was going well until her brother saw the girl up close. He knew something was wrong. “This was the first time my brother had seen her up close, and not from a few meters away, and he gets a really confused look on his face. He doesn’t react further but stays pretty much quiet the rest of the drive. I think nothing of it, and just assume that he’s letting us talk and doesn’t want to interrupt.” <\/span><\/p>\n They arrive at the restaurant, and the girl chooses to sit next to her brother, not her. She asked why she did this, to which the girl responded, “this is because she wants to be able to look at me while she’s talking, but my brother is looking more and more uncomfortable with the situation. Suddenly, the conversation starts to drift from me and her, to just about my brother. I start getting really jealous, and eventually blow up saying “are you here to talk to me, or to just my brother???” She starts backpedaling, and apologizes for ignoring me.” At least this person is straight up. She knows something is wrong and wants to get to the bottom of it.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, it happens. “At that moment, my brother finally realizes that he recognizes her as a girl that had been stalking him on MySpace for the past few months, but without all of the terrible filters\/makeup\/angles that he was used to seeing her with. He immediately gets super freaked out and starts saying that we need to leave and that she needs to find her own way home. We end up leaving as soon as her parents come to pick her up, and I never hear from her again.” That’s one way to end an internet friendship. Their Junior High online best friend also happened to be his brother’s MySpace stalker (via <\/span>Reddit)<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nI Don’t Want To Talk About It <\/span><\/h2>\n
Baptiste The Creep <\/span><\/h2>\n
Imaginary Restaurant<\/span><\/h2>\n
You’re A Waste Of Time <\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
I Was The Horror Story<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
Asking Invasive Questions<\/span><\/h2>\n
Venus And Lord Gumby <\/span><\/h2>\n
Chuckled Like A Villain <\/span><\/h2>\n
He Was 38<\/span><\/h2>\n
Thought He Was Moving In <\/span><\/h2>\n
Double Life <\/span><\/h2>\n