When it comes to dating in New York, it’s a worldwide web of lies.
In a survey of honesty among online daters, the Empire State performed worst, scoring 3.4 out of 10, below the national average of 5.1.
DatingAdvice.com surveyed 3,000 singles about the veracity of the people they met through dating apps. The site rated the accuracy of information listed in profiles, such as age, occupation and real-life appearance, on a scale of 1 to 10.
Cameron Aragon from Hell’s Kitchen once matched with a man on Hinge who appeared to have an athletic build in his photos, but when she arrived for their first date, she didn’t even recognize him.
“He posed as an athlete and had a shirtless photo with slight abs, but he was not fit,” she told The Post.
“I couldn’t get out of the Uber. I was shocked… the person in front of me was unrecognizable. It felt like I was being cheated.”
The man, who worked in finance and lived in FiDi, even admitted that other women had given him the same feedback.
“When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Yes, I know, I’ve been told that before. The pictures are a bit old,'” recalls 25-year-old Aragon, an actress from California.
“I probably would have gone out with him if he had presented himself properly. But I felt uncomfortable because I thought, ‘I don’t know what else he’s lying about.'”
Aragon found that people from the Big Apple are the most likely to lie about where they live and pretend to live in more expensive areas.
“They say they live in Manhattan but are actually in Hoboken, or they say Williamsburg but are in Bushwick,” Aragon said.
“A very popular statement is that guys like to say they live in Gramercy Park, but they live in Kips Bay or the East Village.”
The singles who participated in the survey also indicated which specific things they thought dating app users lied about the most.
Relationship status was the top priority at 32%, meaning many users find that their matches aren’t actually single.
“Unfortunately, most people I know have encountered someone who is on a dating site and is already in a relationship,” says Brooklyn-based online dating coach Erika Ettin.
“People get bored in their relationships. They want to feel attractive. They want to feel like there are still options.”
In second place was age with 30% and in third place was appearance in real life with 22%.
Employment, education and age are other important areas of fluctuation.
Daters from New Jersey and Connecticut were almost as dishonest as those from New York, with scores of 4.1 and 4.9 respectively.
With a score of 7.5, the residents of South Dakota were the most honest in the country.
Comedian Maximillian Lowe, who also lives in Hell’s Kitchen, said it’s not hard to see why New Yorkers took home the crown for biggest scam.
“Because we lie to ourselves so much, it naturally occurs to us to lie to other people. We lie to ourselves that this city doesn’t smell like shit, we pretend the bus is on time or that we can afford the new apartment,” said Lowe, 27.
“Lying about my height on Tinder is like pretending to limp to get a seat on the subway. It’s just survival of the fittest, and sometimes you have to bring that same attitude to dating.”
