10 People Share Their “Met My Online Friend” Horror Stories

We’ve all heard the advice: Be careful meeting people from the internet. But sometimes, curiosity (or blind optimism) wins out, only to end in disaster. From unsettling encounters to straight-up nightmare fuel, these 10 people share their worst horror stories about meeting online friends.

1.

We were friends online for years. When we started families, we’d meet up and take the kids to the zoos or whatever. She wanted us to go on a cruise together, with our husbands and kids. I made the comment towards the effect of “We can’t afford that,”, and she went nuts.

We shouldn’t have had kids if we can’t afford them, we shouldn’t have more children because I didn’t want to go on a cruise with her and her kid. Sounds like a nightmare.

lovelovelovie / Reddit

2.

I never actually met the guy, but spoke to him on the phone. We’d met on Myspace when I was in college and lived in the same town. I gave him my phone number and made plans for him to call me. When he did, his voice creeped me out.

I started noticing other red flags. Whenever I brought the neighborhood up, he changed the subject. I made up a restaurant that I said was my favorite. He immediately said that was his favorite too and that he especially loved one of their dishes. He went on and on about this wonderful place that didn’t exist. I called him out on that fact and turned out, he didn’t even live in the same state as me.

ScifiGirl1986 / Reddit

3.

I met my online friend after a year of talking. He invited me to visit his city and I agreed. Once I landed, things felt off. He was waiting at the airport with a sign "Welcome home." When we got to his apartment, my stomach dropped. His living room was covered in pictures of me.

Screenshots from our video calls, photos from my Instagram, even one of me at my high school graduation. I'd never sent him that. My brain screamed at me to leave. I pretended I had a stomach ache and tried to leave. He stood in front of the door and said, “No need for that. Your room’s ready.”

I told him I was exhausted from my flight, so he finally let me go. I got to my hotel, locked the door, and blocked him on everything. I left the city the next morning.

4.

I matched with a girl on Tinder, and we agreed to meet up at a coffee shop. When I arrived, I noticed only 2 people in the coffee shop, some old guy and a girl who looked similar to the girl I matched with. I texted her that "I'm here," when I did that the old guy and the girl got their phones out at the same time and I got a text that said, "I'm inside."

I went inside and went up to the girl and said, "Hey, Melissa right," she looked up from her phone frowned and said, "No, wrong person." Right after she said that, the old guy tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, he gave me a toothy smile and casually said, "Howdy". I ran out superfast.

***_crimmity / Reddit

5.

I was friends with a bunch of people I met through an online game. After about 2 years, I decided to meet 2 of them. Throughout the whole time, they were only talking to each other and I felt left out. I told them I had to go, and they continued to talk to each other.

I said it again but no response, so I started to walk away, until one of them said, "Oh, bye." When I got back, I stopped talking to them. They said I was the quiet one and that I was being rude to them, especially "leaving without saying goodbye." I blocked them all on the game.

Dontmakemejungle / Reddit

6.

I had a guy profess his love for me over Skype. He wanted to come see me. He lived in the UK. I live in the States. I had a boyfriend, and he knew this. I told him that there was no time to see him, as I had work and school.

He says it's fine. He'll wait until I have time to see him. I told him not to come, he says he has his parents' blessings. He stayed in a hotel for 3 weeks. I hung out with him twice, once with a group of friends and once with my boyfriend.

He got mad because he said that he wanted to hang out with me, alone (in his hotel room) and when I said no, he flipped. He said that because he flew over here, I should at least "hang out" with him. He flew back home and blocked me on all social media.

Unknown author / Reddit

7.

I met this guy who seemed really cool, so I took the train to LA to meet him. When I arrived, he was acting mean, saying he hadn’t slept much after partying all night. We hung out, got ramen, and he asked me to pay (which I didn’t mind).

Then, we met his friends, who were so rude to him. I ended up sitting outside with strangers waiting for him to come back from saying hello to everyone inside. He never did. I told his roommate I was leaving for a motel, but he offered to walk me back instead.

Later, I went to bed at my friend's place. His roommate woke me up in the middle of the night trying to kiss me. When I said no, he said, "Are you serious? What was the point of you coming here? You're such a waste of time!" My feelings were really hurt.

Unknown author / Reddit

8.

A buddy of mine hit it off with this girl and after a few days, she invited him over to a house party. He shows up and is introduced to a few of her friends, all guys.

As the night carries on, more and more guys show up and very few girls are actually at the party. After they start talking about how they all know this girl, they find out that she invited them all from Tinder. Every guy was there to populate this chick's birthday party.

AJTTOTD / Reddit

9.

I started talking to this really sweet guy for about 2 weeks and things were going well. Then I started getting calls from this girl, who he claimed was his roommate, that was in love with him and kept trying to get him fired from jobs.

Turns out, she wasn’t the one lying, she was actually his live-in girlfriend, and they had moved here together from a different state. Apparently, he wasn’t actually a citizen, and was trying to obtain papers.

RobertBorrelli / Reddit

10.

My online friend picked me up at the airport, which was nice, but as soon as we got in the car, he started picking his nose. Now, I’m all for feeling comfortable with friends, but watching him go two knuckles deep was... something. I quickly looked away, then looked back, and he was wiping his fingers on the dashboard.

It didn’t stop there. He just kept picking and wiping boogers on every surface in the car and wherever we went. At some point, I realized I was in a rolling booger shrine. I couldn’t touch anything without feeling gross. I had to bail early because I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

I still wonder if I should’ve said something to him, but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up without embarrassing him.

acunninghagfish / Reddit

Sometimes, doing the right thing backfires so badly you just want to disappear. In this article, we gathered 10 stories that prove good intentions can lead to painfully awkward moments that refuse to be forgotten.