A couple of years ago, TikToker Jasmine (@thedoglord) matched with a guy on a dating app and then found his wedding registry. He was very attractive, loved to cook, and was from England.
At the time, she was super excited to meet him, so they exchanged phone numbers and started texting. Everything seemed to be headed in a promising direction.
But when she looked through his dating profile again, she noticed that he was wearing a wedding ring in all his pictures. He also listed his job and the company he worked for on his profile. Curiosity officially kicked in.
So, Jasmine searched for the company directory, found his full name, and typed it into Google. He was remarkably easy to find online. A website popped up with details about a vow renewal, and the date for the event was set for the previous week.
The plot was thickening fast, the trail was still hot, and Jasmine had nothing better to do, so she continued diving deeper on her 10-year-old laptop that was on its last legs.
She found his wife’s LinkedIn and discovered that she worked a job that required her to be gone for long periods of time.
“And so I’m like, oh, this makes sense,” said Jasmine. “Like, this dirty dog, he just renewed his vows last week, and he’s already out in the streets.”
She pulled up his wife’s social media, thinking to send her a message, but she realized that he followed his wife on Instagram, but she didn’t follow him, which was odd. This detail gave her pause.
Conflicted, Jasmine reached out to her friends to get their takes on the situation. One of her friends advised her to slow down and talk to the guy first because she didn’t necessarily have enough information to be messaging his wife out of the blue.
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So, not wanting to jump to conclusions, Jasmine scheduled a video call with the guy. When he picked up, she scanned the background of his apartment intently, looking for any sign of a woman living in his space.
It was very clearly a man’s apartment. There was no feminine touch at all. During the call, he came right out with the truth, revealing that he was going through a divorce after five years of marriage.
The entire experience has left Jasmine with a lasting takeaway. It is way too easy to find personal information about strangers on the internet.
Oversharing can open doors you may have wanted to leave tightly shut.
She even managed to uncover a short film he was in from 2016, which was more than she had intended to find. So, the lesson here is to be careful about what details you’re sharing with strangers.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
