A TikTok shows a user photoshopping an image to make it look like he won $349 million in a letter and using the photo on his Tinder profile. A screenshot shows that before he uploaded the photo to his Tinder, he didn’t have any matches; after he uploads it, he has 37.
The TikTok was posted by @papergurus, a TikTok account for an academic writing resource for students. In an email to the Daily Dot, Paper Gurus said that they didn’t know the original poster of the video and that he is no longer on TikTok.
The user does, however, photoshop his name, Hieu Thai, onto the large Iowa Lottery Powerball check that he edits into his photo. The video reposted by @papergurus has gotten over a million views. (The Daily Dot was not able to reach Thai.)
Thai’s video comes on the heels of The Tinder Swindler, a Netflix documentary about a man who used Tinder to connect with women who he would date simultaneously and eventually steal money from under the guise of a loan.
Some commenters on the video knocked Thai’s potential matches and insinuated that they were only matching with him because he made himself look like a lottery winner.
“If this doesn’t teach you 1 important lesson in life I don’t know what will,” user @51mod commented.
“This is why I gave up on dating apps,” @mk.hiii wrote.
“I wonder what their pick up lines were,” @shaanbhakta commented.
User @chicago_lawyer_bbc shared a tip on swindling: “Take them out on a date but only pay for your food or tell them if they pay for the first date [you’ll] cover the rest then block them after the first.”
Others thought the TikTok video was sad.
“That’s depressingly revealing,” @thedbnero commented.
The Daily Dot reached out to Tinder and Iowa Lottery via email.
Today’s top stories
| ‘Fill her up’: Bartender gives woman a glass of water when the man she’s with orders tequila shot |
| ‘I don’t think my store has even sold one’: Whataburger employees take picture with first customer who bought a burger box |
| ‘It was a template used by anyone in the company’: Travel agent’s ‘condescending’ out-of-office email reply sparks debate |
| Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online. |