Online deception: Thai TikTok influencer’s disappointing date saga sparks debate

A high-profile social media traveler recently shared her travel experience to China where she flew to meet a man only to find out his online profile did not match reality, sparking widespread critique. The woman, who goes by thaisuperstarinchina on TikTok, posted a series of three videos explaining her saga. Her exploration of this seemingly online deception reality attracted significant criticism.

The TikTok influencer initially met the Chinese man online where they conversed extensively while sharing photos occasionally. At this time, there was great enthusiasm in looking forward to the meet-up in China. However, she realised his actual appearance was dramatically different from the one projected in the photo exchanges, leading to her disappointment as she had travelled across oceans while bearing high hopes.

In her video series, she particularly singled out the man’s luxurious skincare regime, suggesting that the money spent on these high-end products should have instead been used to improve his facial features. She emphasised she did not want to bully, but the disappointment compelled her to move cities after being greatly misled, reported KhaoSod.

A later video saw her clarifying her intentions for sharing these posts in light of heavy criticism. She reiterated that she intended to share her humour out of the uncanny experience, and not to bully the man. She further explained that they had never video-called each other before, as the man had always expressed his discomfort with video calls. After the whole debacle, she made it clear that anyone accusing her of bullying or anyone who painted her as living in a false paradise could face being blocked from her account.

Strongly expressing her sentiment, she said she wasn’t born to live in an illusion. The online deception ordeal upset her primarily because of being lied to and deceived.

In a significant crackdown on the rising wave of online deceit, law enforcement officials have thwarted a substantial online romance scam that illicitly extracted over 36 million baht from its victims. Read more HERE.