Jana Hocking’s trick to catch out cheating men

When Jana Hocking matched with a sexy British man on a dating app she quickly realised he was a cheater after he did one thing.

We all know dating apps are the wild west, offering up various outlandish matches. But as someone who has been on them on and off for a while now, it takes a lot to shock me.

But last week I was left shook.

It all began when I matched with a guy on one of the apps who was visiting from the UK – which is fine because I’m not looking for anything too serious before New Years. Gotta keep myself available for that raunchy midnight pash with a hot and mysterious stranger at whatever party I attend. Or, more likely my ex. Sigh.

Anyway, his name on the app was a nickname ‘Seabass’ so I asked what his real name was, and he told me Sebastian. I thought that made sense and we made plans to go for dinner during the week ….

Jana Hocking was shocked by a recent dating app encounter. Picture: Instagram

She matched with a man called ‘Seabass’ who was visiting from London. Picture: Supplied

He then adds me on WhatsApp and I noticed he had put the following privacy setting on our chat:

Which I thought was a bit strange. Why would he need messages to be wiped? My spidey senses began to alert me that something wasn’t quite right.

Later that night, I was scrolling through my favourite Facebook group called ‘Sis, is this your man?’ It allows women to upload pictures of the men they are currently dating or chatting to on dating apps, to see if anyone else is dating them. It’s wild, but kinda genius! The amount of women in Sydney dating the same blokes would shock you.

While I was avidly catching up on all the drama on the Facebook page, I came across a woman who was delivering some very wise advice. She said there’s a website called FaceCheckID where you can upload dating app pics and it will tell you if you are being catfished. So I screenshot a photo of ‘Seabass’ and uploaded it on the website. To my slight shock it came up with a very strong online presence belonging to a man NOT called Sebastian, but someone called *Robert.

It listed his Instagram page so I clicked, and sure enough, there were pictures of his wife and kids.

So then I sent him a straight to the point message on the dating app “Hey is your name *Robert” and as you can see he instantly unmatched with me. SPRUNG!

Now here’s my main issue with this whole debacle: he shouldn’t have been allowed on the dating app in the first place. For the life of me I can’t understand why in 2023 people are allowed on the apps without proving proof of ID.

I mean, you can get verified if you choose but it’s not a strict rule – and I think it should be. By allowing people on the apps unverified you’re allowing married men, catfishers, and lord knows who else to roam these sites looking for vulnerable women to dupe. Come on.

In the meantime, I highly suggest you do your own research before going on a first date with a stranger. Upload their dating app pictures onto any of the various sites on offer that scan the internet for the persons online presence. It could save you a lot of time.

Oh, and if they put the disappearing messages setting on your WhatsApp chat I recommend you run. Your match is up to no good!

It’s crazy that we have to do our own research to stay safe on the dating apps, but it could keep you out of harm, and at the very least save you from a dose of heartbreak.

Like good girl scouts, let’s keep ourselves safe.

Jana Hocking is a columnist and collector of kind-of-boyfriends | @jana_hocking