He seemed too good to be true. He was a single 32-year-old man who was good looking and had a successful job working for the stock exchange.
When Valparaiso graduate Ashley Saluga found his profile on Match.com, she thought her single days would be over. She finally found her match.
"I was excited," the 27-year-old said.
Turns out, he was too good to be true. Online, he reinvented himself as a successful, young, good looking single man. In real life, he was about 50 years old, and he was very rude.
"When I got to the table, I was like, 'Please let it not be him,' " Saluga said. "I felt bad, so we ended up staying out for a while, and he asked me if I had any single friends."
It's a sad story that was repeated with variations by everyone surveyed by the Post-Tribune who had met romantic partners online.
The advantages of online dating are plentiful -- meet countless people without ever leaving your house. According to Match.com's latest figures, 60,000 new people register on the dating Web site every day, and last year, 400,000 formed long-term relationships through the Web site.
But in the 11 years since the major dating Web sites emerged online, men, women and federal investigators have discovered the downsides of meeting people on the Internet.
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, 66 percent of Internet users said online dating is dangerous because it puts personal information in the public sphere. The survey revealed that 57 percent of people believe other people lie about their marital status on dating Web sites. Only 6 percent of online daters said dating Web sites did an excellent job of protecting personal information.
The FBI said online crimes are increasing as more and more people become adept at using the Internet. The number of complaints about online issues were at an all time high in 2005, according to the latest figures.
Match.com officials said they've tried to lessen the amount of liars and scammers on their site by screening every member profile and photos. Each month, they reject about 15 percent of the submitted profiles that don't reach their standards.
But even when online daters are honest in their profiles, it's hard to decipher the person's personality when simply looking at a picture in conjunction with carefully plotted responses to basic dating questions posted in profiles.
Anne Bretts, 55, said she once drove 50 miles to meet a man who looked promising in his profile. But Bretts, originally from Hobart, said the man was totally different in person than in his profile.
"His house was so neat," Bretts said. "He had white walls and little gold angels on the walls. He had two little dolls on his bed, and lace bedding. He had french doors on his closet, and you could see that all his clothes were organized by color."
When they were out to dinner, Bretts discovered other not so desirable traits he possessed.
"He was constantly using nasal spray during dinner," she said. "That's the kind of thing that wouldn't have come across online. There are 101 things that when you start talking to someone, they're a whole lot different."
Bretts met her husband on Yahoo Personals, and even though she eventually fell in love with him, she was a little disgusted that he lied about his age on his profile, saying he was 59 when he was about 64.
"At our age, five years makes a big difference," Bretts said. "But he was a great guy and we got along wonderfully, and no one would ever guess his age. He was afraid he was too old."
Most of the online dating sites have detailed questionnaires that they recommend the daters fill out, but Amanda Perkins of Schererville said online daters need to take some responsibility themselves to avoid bad dates.
"As long as you're really careful in terms of meeting people in public," she said, it's pretty safe. Perkins, 26, dated about 11 people through Match.com and Yahoo Personals before meeting the man who would buy her a blue sapphire and diamond ring, and would become her husband.
"I wish I could erase some of the crazy dates, but I got what I wanted in the end," Perkins said.
Saluga agreed. She hasn't had a proposal yet, but she said the dates over the past year have been fun, and even if she doesn't meet the perfect man online, she could use her dating experiences toward her career.
"I'll use the dates for the dating book I'm going to write in the future," she said with a giggle.
