Warning about using a friend's profile picture on Hinge

My friend convinced me to use her photo from a trip to Seattle because she said it would get more matches, and after a week this guy showed up at my coffee shop asking for 'Claire from the ferry'. Has anyone else had a date recognize a fake picture right away?

4 comments

4 Comments

blake7922mo ago

Wait he actually showed up at your coffee shop? That's not dedicated, that's full on creepy. Tracking down a random ferry photo location and then finding your work address is next level. Tbh I'd be changing my profile and locking stuff down after that.

thomas_sanchez2mo ago

Yeah, that's way past the line. I'd make all my social media private for a while and maybe give your boss a heads up, just in case he comes back.

ward.kim15d ago

I actually read a piece about how Hinge profiles get scraped by reverse image search tools all the time now. There's this site called SocialCatfish that people use to track down where pics were taken. The ferry photo probably had geotag metadata or something that gave away the exact location. Then the guy just matched that to your town and found the local coffee shop. Did you end up blocking him or just hoping he doesn't come back?

jamesf292mo ago

Honestly that's kind of a funny meet-cute story waiting to happen. You could have just explained it was your friend's photo from a trip you didn't go on and turned it into a joke. A guy putting in that much effort to find a profile picture from a ferry is kinda dedicated.