If your search for “the one” has extended to the internet, don’t believe everything you read. A new study that will be published in an upcoming Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction says that online daters often lie about their height, weight and sometimes their age.

According to researchers Jeffrey Hancock,a Cornell doctoral student, and Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor at Michigan State University, profile information on dating websites is often incorrect.

52.6 percent of men lied about their height compared with 39 percent of women. More women than men lied about their weight. Women underestimated their weight 64.1 percent of the time. The results seem fairly stereotypical. Age was not lied about as often, with only 24.3 percent of men and 13.1 percent of women telling a fib about their ages.

Hancock concluded that these online daters were trying to appear as attractive as possible without appearing deceptive.

In my experience, ask anyone for their height and they will tell you they are slightly taller than you would find them if you actually measured. And those who may be carrying a few more pounds than they admit to probably haven’t looked at the scale in some time and are relating a number close to what it said the last time they weighed themselves. But everyone knows how old they are, so if they lie about that, then you can probably consider them untrustworthy.

Although it is understandable that people may make mistakes or fib slightly to appear more attractive, it still means that the person you correspond with may have a different physical appearance than you expect.

The rule for online dating is to make sure you use a trustworthy, reliable and established service and carefully screen anyone you contact. Before meeting an online date in person, take precautions for your personal safety.

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