OLD guy says he's a government researcher

[boswellwell]

I’m on an OLD app, I got a message from a guy with no pictures, when I asked him for a picture of himself his response was he can’t because “I work as a government research scientist” and went on to say “I have a number of qualifications so research many things. These days mostly interface of humans and technology and some of their military applications is all I can say.”
“I will have to in fact get security clearance for you but only if we are getting married”
“I'm afraid I must obey my work regulations so picture is not negotiable - we don't just get sacked but jailed after court martial!”
“I'm afraid I cannot send pictures on kik or Skype either for exactly that reason! Russians to name one are always looking for an opportunity of identity fraud and I could lose my job for that!”

Of course I’m suspicious and don’t believe him for a second but I’m curious to why someone would say this ? Could he be married? Surely he’d still send a pic privately over Snapchat or something?
He’s very keen to meet in person too and he’s looking for a serious relationship 😬

Fantasist?

lol i wouldnt waste my time with this one hes either married or so ugly he dare not put his pic any where

Are you tempted to play along?

Haha! Too much detail from him to be plausible. There are situations this could apply in but anyone subject to such requirements would not disclose this to people on online dating platforms. What a plonker!

A loopy. Avoid. If he was a government research scientist he'd more likely put a pic on but claim to be an accountant or some such fairly ordinary and boring job.

Why did he have to say it so many times I’m so many different ways?

Presumably he would say this to anyone who matched with him, so he’s giving out a lot of info to a lot of people. OLD might not be the best place for someone who can’t do photos.
I bet he’s a car park attendant.

I distantly once came across someone like this. Not myself who engaged with him but someone I know did. He was a total fantasist and actually a very dangerous man. Steer well clear

Oh I'd have to play along with this! With my own equally obviously fake stories

@isseywithcats that's what I thought at first but surely he'll never meet anyone this way and @Theyprobablywill I am a little bit just because I'm curious and there was a thread not so long ago where some mumsnetters said they work for secret government jobs which made me thing maybe it's not as rare/bullshitty as I thought

if he was genuine he wouldn't be broadcasting it all over the internet

He's a Walter - total fantasist. Steer well clear - likely to be dangerous.

HAHAHA. Yes. He’s probably married lying. When I met my DH on OLD he was working fully security cleared. He still had pictures in his Match profile - just didn’t say on there what he did!

Complete and utter bollocks. The government doesn’t get “security clearance” for the wives of people who need it.

if he was genuine he wouldn't be broadcasting it all over the internet

Exactly

If he had said something like "I work in a sensitive area so I can't put my photo onto the internet", it would have been more plausible

Or - he is indeed a government researcher, who has broken a gazillion rules by telling you what he has already told you

It was on plenty of fish so he messaged me first and I asked for a pic straight away, I'm ashamed to say I never knew people can be fantasists and make up such extreme lies about their lives for no reason!
I was thinking maybe set up a date and observe him from a distance rather than actually meet him but I don't think I'm brave enough

I had a friend who worked in cyber security in n a government job. He couldn’t have Facebook or do other social media-y things. He didn’t make a big deal about it even though we did mock him a lot about his ‘fake’ government job (he really was employed in this sort of work). I can’t imagine anyone would lead with that sort of thing OLD though. It screams I’m married and you could be one of my wife’s friends.

I’d totally play along for kicks though!

It's a plausible job but not a plausible reason for him to not have a picture on his dating profile.

Oh come on!

This is a variant on the oldest line in the book! ("I work for MI5"). Read this:

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-discovers-cia-agent-bigamist-13743329

If someone tells you they work for a secret government agency/security and there is any reason why they can't (not won't but can't) do something normal (like send you a photo), it's a catfish scammer.

Besides "security cleared" is a low level of clearance. If you are security cleared there is no need for a new partner to be security cleared because it's low level.

Top level security requires someone to be developed vetted

www.gov.uk/guidance/security-vetting-and-clearance

I bet if you ask him a couple of questions about what being security cleared involves you'll find out it's a crock of shit very quickly. DV clearance is really intrusive - they want to know everything about you so that you are blackmail proof - including people you've slept with, people you are in a relationship with, porn usage, sexual fetishes, finances and spending habits etc etc.

There is a bit about it on the link - but it's a very detailed and thorough process. The candidate usually will have a looong interview - like 3 hours long.

Come on. You know this guy is a bullshitter of the highest order. He wouldn't reveal anything like this much detail until you were entering into a proper relationship.

Don't get dragged in.

i had a guy contact me he said he was a strategic arms expert of some sort in the middle east but where he said he was and the time line didnt add up, so i played along said he was a widower, had a child in america etc, said he wanted to come to england to meet me, very flattering, (i was 56 at this point lol) picture was of a very handsome guy, so i played along made out i believed every word he said, and waited for the message asking for money of some sort lol, oh yes he did said he had no phone credit and need some to speak to his commanding officer could i top up his phone for him, i had great delight putting him in his place said thats funny scammers usually ask for money, informed him i was living hand to mouth at that point and funnily enough he blocked me, always wondered which part of nigeria he lived in really ,

Definitely play along

It is right btw that some jobs do require absolutely no social media for security reasons - for example the SAS is one - but that's totally different from sending one by email privately.

The key indicator is that someone that worried about security wouldn't be doing OLD anyway - and if they did, they wouldn't put it up front. They'd tell you what they really did much later on after meeting you a few times etc.

It's all bollocks.

Yes, cohabitants feature in the highest levels of vetting, but that's not the sort of thing someone would discuss with someone they'd never even met.

I'd answer ' You really haven't thought through the basic requirements of on-line dating, have you? до свидания (do svidaniya)'

You should totally meet him! Make sure you wear a motorcycle helmet or balaclava for the duration, because you're a super secret spy

😆 pof...

I've met a cage fighter who's pics are actually a semi famous MMA fighter

Quite a few who own their own companies and are on 150k a year and keen to tell you so but they suddenly lose a LOT of money the next day on stocks

A spy... who's so secretive he sometimes changes his profile to a fairly ordinary looking guy once in a while but told me he couldn't ever have his photo up etc

Oh and a couple of "really rich" men who then tell you how they make their money and happen to work in high street stores just because they'd get bored otherwise, they always seem to think their money schemes are clever and legit - they're obviously quite fraudulent and a bit stupid to go round bragging online if it's true