This past spring, my inboxes began filling with messages from heartbroken women. The first came through Instagram: “Hey, I am Lina.
I live in Germany. Someone is using your pictures for scamming!” Her profile revealed a woman who looked to be near my age, late 40s, wearing black-framed glasses.
She told me she had met the guy on Tinder. But after a few months of exchanging messages, she grew suspicious of his motives, so her daughter image-searched his photos on Google, which led them to my profile. “I felt a bit in love with you,” she said. “But now I know that you are gay.
I thought I have some luck to meet a wonderful person from England.” The fake me was “Simon,” an investment banker from outside of London.