The internet is dark and full of terrors. With the boom in the number of online dating apps, your 'soulmate' might seem just a click away. However, what will you do if the 'One' is not really who he/she says they are? A teaching assistant from Canterbury, Anne Rowe, 44, fell for a certain Antony Ray, a businessman who used a picture of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan on a popular dating app.
Rowe, and Ray exchanged several messages, their relationship reaching to the point of marriage, when she realised her lover was in fact, a married lawyer with children. "This man used me like a personal hotel with benefits under the guise of wanting the romantic, loving relationship he knew I craved. He broke my trust, took away my right to choose. I did not consent to having a relationship with a married man, or a man who was actively having relations with multiple women simultaneously," Anne said. She also found out that he was having multiple affairs with other women on the internet.
After getting her heart broken, the mother of two, now wants the government to make people use their real names on dating websites. After using fake photos on Tinder, Ray eventually did sent Rowe real photos of himself, and the twomet in person. She informed that they met twice a week for six months, telling her he often went to Germany and Ireland for work.
It wasn't until Ray began to appear distant, and his visits became less frequent that Rowe became suspicious. "I'm a victim of a catfish approach. Using a fake profile and online identity as a platform to lure women or men for sex should be illegal, but it's not. The result is the other party believing they are beginning a real relationship with the hope of future together and having sex is part of that believed relationship."
