Josh was excited about his first date with Jessie from Tinder, but when he got to the meet-up, he knew something was wrong. When things take a turn for the worst, Josh learned the harshest realities of online dating. Read on to find out how some people don't exactly live up to their expectations...
Unlucky Love
Josh was a newly hired police officer in the Philadelphia Police Department. He was excited for his new position, but heartbroken at the same time. He had recently been dumped by his longtime girlfriend, Amanda. He was 21 and ready for a fresh start, so he reached out to his friend. His friend has some interesting advice…
Looking for Love
He advised his friend to download Tinder, an online dating application. Hopefully, he could meet someone to help him get over his ex-girlfriend. Josh agreed, and downloaded the app. Soon, he met a girl named Jessie. Conversation flowed easily, and soon, he decided to ask her out on a real life date…
Star Gazers
Jessie agreed to the date, but she didn’t want to go to dinner or a movie. She had a more specific place in mind. She asked Josh to come over to her house beforehand, and they’d walk to a nearby field to talk and look at the stars. Josh, not seeing anything weird about this request, agreed. That was his first mistake…
Wide Open Spaces
He showed up at Jessie’s house, and both of them seemed very excited for the date. She guided Josh to a field. The field was empty, perfect for star gazing, wildlife hunting, and more. It was sure to be a special night, but Josh didn’t realize how much his life would change within the hour…
Deer In the Headlights
In the distance, Josh could see headlights dimly lit. A van began to approach them, and Josh felt himself get nervous. He asked Jessie to stay back while he approached the vehicle. The van blocked their exit, and a man got out of the truck. He was a huge man with a beard, and Josh prepared for a fight…
Defying Expectations
The man turned out to be very polite actually. He was the real owner of the property, and was worried that they were on his land to poach animals. They assured him that they were not, and were just looking at the stars. He told them to have fun on their date, but keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Little did he know…
Texting, Not Talking
The date was going fine at first. They chatted a little bit, kept an eye out for poachers, and looked at the sky. Then, Jessie started acting strange. She pulled out her phone and began rapidly texting someone. “Who’s got your attention more than me?” Josh asked. Jessie laughed a little but continued texting. Something was off…
Bad Date Gets Worse
He didn’t think much of it. This was just another girl who couldn’t get off her phone. He decided that after the date, there wouldn’t be another one, but there were worse ways this could go than a lackluster night. He was right. Then, the headlights came back, but Josh could tell it wasn’t the landowner very quickly…
New Face
The car came plowing towards them at a high speed, and Josh knew immediately that something had changed. Was it poachers? Turns out, it was something worse. He waited for the landowner to step out of the car, but instead, it was an unknown man. Jessie wasn’t scared though, in fact, she seemed calm for the first time all night…
Two Against One
Josh was posted up in a defensive position. He turned to look at Jessie, but Jessie was smiling, staring straight ahead at the man who stepped out of the truck. She stepped away from Josh and joined the mystery man. It was two against one, but Josh was still confused. What was going on here?
Fight or Flight
Luckily, the new police officer was ready. “Back up and get on the ground, now!” he commanded. The couple looked at him, refusing to follow his orders. Josh was not surprised by their refusal, but he was shocked when the man charged at him. Josh threw his body to the ground…
Runaway Girl
They wrestled around on the floor of the field for a while. Eventually, Josh was able to force the man onto his back while he stood up. Then, he noticed Jessie started to run toward the man’s car. She was after something, but he didn’t know what. He was about to be seeing a different kind of stars…
The Metal Pipe
Jessie grabbed a metal pipe from the truck. “We-- I mean I have a gun!” she cried out. Josh guessed that she was panicked and desperate to get the upper hand while her boyfriend was out of order. She held out the metal pipe toward him like a sword, like maybe she really believed it was a gun. Josh started to plan…
Hand It Over
Jessie demanded that Josh hand over his money and the keys to his truck. It was a robbery! She said that if he complied, he wouldn’t get hurt… at least not badly. Josh didn’t believe her and honed in on his “I won’t get hurt” mentality. He thought himself to be invincible, so he said no. That was the wrong answer…
Secret Career
Jessie began to sob. She didn’t want to hurt him, or so she claimed. She was hoping that the threat would be enough to remove him from the situation, and she could take the money and truck and go. Clearly they didn’t talk about careers, because then Josh told her that he was a cop, and things went from bad to worse…
Crisis Averted?
Josh drew out his firearm and instructed Jessie to join her friend on the ground. The criminal couple were both shocked. Jessie put her hands up behind her head and slowly knelt to the ground. Josh called for back-up, as he was only a rookie in the police department. But the date wasn’t over yet…
Calling For Backup
He gave the 911 dispatcher his badge number and name. He said that he had two at gunpoint, and he needed backup ASAP. He tried to give their coordinates as best he could, but when he looked around at the open field, he let his eyes leave the two thieves. In record time, they got up and started sprinting…
Young Cop Mentality
“It was stupid young cop mentality” said Josh, who says that he immediately tried to chase down the runaways. They split up when they got to the woods, so Josh decided to chase after the unknown man. He only managed to follow the robber for about half a minute, but after 30 seconds, he heard something in the distance…
Running For Safety
Three loud pops rang out, and a muzzle flashes. Earlier he had been ready to fight and feeling invincible, but now not so much. He sprinted away from the spooky forest and mystery noise to return to his car. He was, as he described, “running like hell.” He peeled out of the area, terrified of what could come next…
Watching and Waiting
He returned to the truck and van, where he noticed the thieves had not yet returned. While he waited for the backup, he sat in his own car. He was instructed to wait for more senior officers before he did anything, which he did. Unfortunately, the story wasn’t quite over yet…
Friendly Fire
Once the other officers got to the scene, they berated him with nicknames like “rookie” and a few less than PG ones. They told him to wait in his car until they were done surveying the area, and made fun of him a little bit more, but no one was laughing a few minutes later. They told him to not come outside unless he heard gunshots…
The Center Console
The two arriving officers snooped around in the robber's car and found something in the center console. It was a white substance in a plastic bag. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was meth! They theorized that they were planning on using the money to buy more, and would likely sell the car shortly. But then they kept searching…
The Trunk
When the officers returned to the car, they told Josh some scary news. In the back of the van, they had found some items way worse than the meth, but all of the objects were completely unexpected. The men were pale in the face, absolutely terrified to give him the truth of his Tinder date gone wrong…
Terrible Treasure
In the back of the robbers car, they found a treasure trove of terrible items. They found a collection of knives, a surprising amount of rifle ammunition, duct tape, lighter fluid, handcuffs, and what they thought could be dried blood. But from what, or from whom? All of this shook them to their core, but that wasn’t it…
Weapons Found
The two officers told him that in the front seat, they found a gun. Not just any gun either, it was an AR-15 rifle. They also found smaller handguns in the pocket of the door. They requested immediate back-up to search for the dangerous criminals, but the two mystery daters were never found….
Grand Theft Auto
The officers ran the plates of the vehicle and learned that it had been reported missing from San Francisco almost a year prior. The owner had left it unlocked in a local parking garage and the camera caught only two masked people driving it away. Nothing was found at the scene but a single strand of long brown hair, just like Jessie’s...
Dried Blood
The police ran the dried blood through the DNA system, terrified at what they might find, but they never thought it could be... nothing. The dried blood turned out to be some red tomato paste scrubbed into the carpeting of the car. Still, Officer Josh was clearly shaken up form the traumatic events…
Getting Help
His first year on the force was a long one, and Josh went to therapy to overcome such a daunting dating scare. The unit still talks about it to this day, and Josh vowed to never use a popular dating app like that again. The runaways, though police searched for weeks, were never found or heard from again...
Scary Statistics
Dating scares like these aren’t uncommon. One in three relationships start from an online app, according to user reports. Sadly, violent crimes associated with online dating like assault have also risen. In fact, the number has risen by 382% in the past three years. The data is unsettling to see…
On The Rise
Things didn’t use to be so bad when online dating was less common. In 2011, before dating apps popularity, online dating crimes were recorded at 140 per year. Only five years later, that data had risen to 676 reports of violent crime from dating apps. It seems that people are looking for love in all the wrong places...
Stay Safe
It’s important to stay safe when dating and meeting up with strangers from the internet. There have been an estimated 240 cases of viciously violent assault from online dating. Those numbers are expected to rise in the coming years, so make sure you’re being safe when finding your soul mate...