It’s like catfishing for the neighborhood.
Singles who live near New York City are claiming to be New York residents in their dating profiles, a sneaky trend known as “hoodfishing.”
“Every few conversations [a dating] “There are women on the app who will say in their profile that they live in the city, but then they’ll write, ‘Oh, I live in Westchester,’ or ‘I live on Long Island,'” complained comedian Jared Freed. Trending TikTok videos.
If someone has to take three trains or an overnight flight to get to a date, you know they’re food fishing — a variant of catfishing, where people create a false online persona to lure potential romantic partners, he said.
“A first date is going to be a different gamble,” Freed says. “You’re sitting there the whole time like, ‘Well, if I can just make the 11:42 train…'”
“Date guys from the suburbs. There are great guys in your town who are ready to go out with you, tucked in their polo shirts in their underwear,” he suggested.
Scammers say their motive for lying is “clear”: to cast a wider net and land more dates.
One woman from central New Jersey said that saying she lives in New York City gives her more options: After she moved to Midtown, she said it only took her two months to find a match.
“As long as guys fish by height, income and marital status I’ll keep fishing Hood!!!!” said another.
For others, it’s simply a way to save face.
“I used to do this at the New Jersey Transit Authority and the Port Authority,” one person confessed. “I lied about going to the University of Pennsylvania because I didn’t want to take the bus.”
