Don’t trust strangers you meet on the internet.
A whole bunch of guys learned this lesson firsthand when they were duped by a Tinder match named Natasha Aponte. In a now-viral Twitter thread, user @bvdhai takes us through the story of how he and dozens of other men were tricked into living out an “epic tale about subterfuge, dating in the 21st century and the fall of human civilization.”
According to bvdhai, it all started out normally enough. He matched with a girl on Tinder and they started texting. She warned him that she was about to ghost for a couple of weeks because she was going to be busy with a work project. After a while, she texted again asking bvdhai to meet her in Union Square, where her friend would be DJing a show the next day.
“I make my way to Union Square. Eat a hot dog and look over by this open lot by 17th Ave and there is a stage and a DJ and about 100 ppl and cameras and shit and I think well this is some random ass Manhattan shit,” bvdhai tells in his thread.
I am about to tell you an epic tale about subterfuge, dating in the 21st century and the fall of human civilization. This actually happened to me and it could happen to you too. Get some popcorn. *Thread*
— míš (@bvdhai) August 19, 2018
He eventually spotted her in the crowd, wearing sunglasses and accompanied by bodyguards, before she took to the stage and began to address the crowd.
“She gets the mic and is like thanks for coming out I bet you’re all wondering what this is about… She then says so I know all of you here are on tinder… Then she says I’ve invited you all here for a chance to go on a date with me and proceeds to give a hunger games speech about what its gonna take to date her. ALL THE DUDES THERE SHE FOUND ON TINDER AND TEXTED THEM THE SAME SH*T.”
In a livestream of the “date,” Natasha explains her motives to the guys.
“Dating apps are very difficult and I said, ‘Okay, how do I solve this problem? Maybe I can bring everyone here, in person, and see how that goes, and solve this once and for all,'” she announced from the stage. “So, do you have what it takes to compete against everyone here to win a date with me? I mean, maybe you’re disappointed, but I don’t see why it’s disappointing, because it’s a great story.”
Several days later, the “Tinder scammer” took to “Good Morning America” to give her reasons for the hoodwinking.
Apparently, the whole scenario was thought up by Aponte and video marketer Rob Bliss in order to “raise awareness of the absurdity of dating apps.” The stunt was filmed and later posted on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=244&v=Rz_2VYeHAx4
“The purpose of making this video was to simply take the Tinder experience and bring it into the real world,” Bliss said on Good Morning America. “It’s become kind of socially acceptable to disqualify people and say, ‘You have to be x height, you have to work x job. Yeah, we should be mad about this.”
And while many are mad about Aponte tricking so many guys, wasting their time and stringing them along, others are impressed with her sheer audacity.
Unfortunately, Aponte didn’t meet her match at her IRL Tinder date. She swiped left on them all.
