Of course my story about dating apps is not yet over. Well if I didn't talk about my friends and it would only have one part (I think) but at least I get to save my other topics for another day.
My first time to experience or explore Tinder was 2 years ago. I did not downloaded it on my phone rather I asked our helper to download it on hers and she had to create her own account. She's already married but we only tried it just for fun.
Most guys who liked her profile was mostly her age bracket. But I know that there is a certain feature in the app that is exclusive for people who will purchase it. I cannot remember what it is but after few swipe, she deleted it because there was no fun at all.
Then early last year, she then again installed Tinder since she was already a widow. There was a Filipino who messaged her but since she is targeting foreigners, she ignored the guy. Sometimes we would join forces in who to swipe right or left and we would even make fun of their photos. Then there was one decent looking guy who messaged her and she was hoping that it would be the answer to all her prayers. He said that he liked how our helper looks and that they should continue their conversation through email. Because she was having a hard time to speak in English, I mostly did all the replies
I think there were more than 3 emails from the guy that I answered and then I told our helper to practice replying to the guy especially if the time comes that they would meet or do video calls. I think she was able to answer him back with a very short and sincere emails once.
By the way, this guy said that he was in the US military and it was also evident in the picture though it was pixelated that he was in the army and judging from his body built, he was telling the truth. After about 3 or 4 emails, he said that he would be assigned in the Philippines and he even knew about Subic, as it is a US military base here. We got so excited about the fact that he would be here and I was even teasing our helper that she wouldn't have any rest if they would meet. We were even imagining how their first meeting would turn out.
Then the next emails after he said that he will be deployed here in the Philippines started to get so strange. Although at first it was already been suspicious since he does not answer most of our questions. But because we were still hung up with the idea that our helper may have had her sucessful love story on Tinder, we continued communicating with this guy. We would ask him some questions, tell something about our helper's life yet and we were even insisting to have a video call with him but it seems like he was not interested. He would ignore our emails and he would email us with some other stories. He would tell us that he loved our helper the moment that he saw her picture and how he imagined having a life with our helper. He would tell stuffs just to get you fooled.
His second to the last email was he was asking our helper if he can look for an apartment or a condominium that has a tight security as he would want to rent while he is here in the Philippines. He said that being in command, he was entitled to rent and bring the guns and other military weapons with him. He even mentioned how much his budget was. I think it was more than a Php200,000 or $4,000. I forgot what we replied to that email but my suspicion about this guy has grown bigger.
Then his last email was he was asking for our helper's address as he said that he went to a mall and bought her some stuffs. At first we were all so thrilled that he's going to give our helper a package. We even told our helper to ask for a branded bag and then we kept on guessing what kind of stuffs did the guy bought our helper.
And after a day or two, everything hit me and my mom. When we woke up we just realized that we shouldn't be giving our helper's address which is our home address as well because it is not safe and it is dangerous. So our helper said that she will just give her real address in the province but I objected. I explained to her that she should not give any contact information to this guy because it was too dangerous. What if he was a terrorist that he would use our helper's contact information to get inside the Philippines or worst is that he's not really a foreigner or what if he is someone who can easily lurk around anywhere here in the Philippines and then kidnap her children and ask for ransom? Yeah, we have thought of a lot of things that morning.
But our helper took everything the wrong way. She started not talking to us because I think she feels that we were stopping her to have a good life. Then after a day, she said that she will still give her provincial address. Even with all the what if's that we have said, she still wanted to give her contact information. I know the last person who could give her a good scolding was my dad. I told my dad about it and thankfully she listened to my dad. My dad also said the same thing but she mostly listens to him probably because my dad was the one who compensates her. Our helper did not talk to us for a week.
I even researched it about the scammers on Tinder to show to her but she did not want to listen nor she did not want to read any of the articles that I have saved. We were only trying to protect ourselves and her and her children as well but she took it the wrong way. After that I know she uninstalled her Tinder.
