Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media
Topics: The Tinder Swindler, Sex and Relationships, Dating trends
Anish Vij
Topics: The Tinder Swindler, Sex and Relationships, Dating trends
A single Brit claims she was rudely 'ghosted' by Hinge's version' of the Tinder swindler who persuaded her to pay for their first date, which happened to be a £800 holiday in Spain.
Claudia Harris usually avoids dating apps but regrettably thought of giving it a try last year.
The 29-year-old matched with a military man who, for this article, is called 'James'.
After hitting it off on the platform, Claudia agreed to go to Malaga for their first date, while James promised to pay her back for fronting £800 in hotel costs and arriving the night before he landed.
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Once they were finally together, they looked to be having a great time, full of dinner dates, trips to the beach and even getting matching tattoos.
However, the fashion PR eventually realised she was being scammed by James, who 'ghosted' her when she asked for his £400.
Claudia, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, said: "It's the real life Tinder swindler but make it Hinge. I am a Netflix documentary in the making."
Netflix's The Tinder Swindler documentary told the story of Israeli conman Simon Leviev who used the dating application Tinder to match with women who he would emotionally manipulate into financially supporting his lavish lifestyle.
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"My friend urged me to download Hinge and I was so against it. She told me it would be fun and a good distraction," she continued.
"He was the first person I came across. He matched with me almost instantly. We were talking and it was going really well.
"For 12 hours we were texting each other and we didn't get off the phone until 3am. At the end of the conversation he said he really needed to meet me and I said likewise.
"He had some time off at the end of the month for the bank holiday. He was thinking of going to Spain. He asked if I wanted to come.
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"This was the sign I had been wanting from the universe to do something different, out of my comfort zone and put myself out there. I didn't even second guess it.
"We both agreed on Malaga. We wanted somewhere by the sea. In the build up we were FaceTiming every day."
Claudia said the pair's 'agreement' was to split the hotel costs - which clearly did not happen.
She said: "That night I messaged him about the money. Two days later he replied and said he was so sorry but he had been back to back with training.
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"I sent him my details. Ghosted. I thought he must be busy so I tried again two days later. Ghosted. I thought this was really weird and tried one final time. Nothing.
"That's when I got really, really upset. I got into a car accident which led me to the decision to leave my job.
"I had no income for a long time so that was money I could not afford to lose. My brother had to give me a bit of money. It was such a low moment. I'm never going to see that money again."
LADbible has contacted Hinge for comment.