How to keep an eye out for the characteristics men are most likely to lie about online…

Unfortunately it’s becoming increasingly difficult to take a man’s online dating profile at face value. A recent study conducted by AYI.com found that 1 in 3 men admit to lying on a online dating profile compared to fewer than 1 in 5 women, and that 55 percent of women who have used online dating have had a bad experience.

Do some men tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in their online profiles? Certainly. But as a general rule, if you want to get the most out of your time in the world of online dating, it’s a good idea to start reading between the lines and take everything you see and hear with a grain of salt.

Related: Online Dating Tips: 5 Profile Mistakes to Avoid

The Most Common Online Dating Lies

If you’re looking for the cribs-notes cheat sheet for deciphering the truth from a dating profile, then keep an eye out for those characteristics men are most likely to lie about online.

Applying a skeptical eye to the top 5 facts and figures below will help you uncover 80 percent of online lies with minimum effort.

Height

The average man online says he’s at least one to two inches taller than he really is. Most men not only know women tend to prefer taller men, they also know women aren’t going to break out the measuring tape on a first date.

Weight/Physique

Through a combination of choosing what archetype best fits their body type (athletic, a little extra, obese, thin, jacked) and the pictures they decide to include in their profile, men can be pretty good at disguising what their bodies really look like.

Age

Sex advice columnist extraordinaire Dan Savage has stated he assumes every man with an online profile is probably two to five years older than he actually is.

This is a fair assumption to make even if I think the percentage of men lying about their age online isn’t quite as numerous as Savage suggests and is likely more common among daters in their 30s, 40s and 50s than among seniors and 20-somethings.

Income/Job

AYI.com’s study found that almost 1 in 2 women are going to want to know a man’s employment status on the first date. And as you’d imagine, many men lie about how much they make in their online dating profiles (rounding up of course).

Men may also exaggerate other details about their job, such as where they work and what position they actually hold.

Social Life/Social Connections

Plenty of men lie about the depth of their social lives.

Men who lie online about their social lives are likely to make it seem like they live more socially active lives than they have, and those men are also likely to lie about the quality of their social connections (exaggerate the importance of who they know and who they spend their time with).

Related: 10 Ways to Get a Date on AYI.com

Do all men significantly lie about these traits in their profiles? Of course not. Most men are relatively honest within their dating site profiles.

A guy who is 5’7’’ probably isn’t going to say he’s 6’1’’ on his profile because you’ll know he was lying the second you meet him.

A guy who makes $20k a year flipping burgers isn’t going to say he makes $200k annually as an investment banker because he knows his dates will catch on to his deception pretty quickly.

So what does this mean for you and your attempts at online dating success? Simple. Assume the men you meet might not be quite as tall, as successful or as connected as they say they are, and then decide whether you’d still consider dating them regardless.

If you’re happy with a man who’s a little shorter, broker and less socially winning than he presents himself online, then you won’t be disappointed if that’s exactly what he turns out to be when you meet in person.

You’ll have simply won the jackpot if the man who you end up grabbing a drink with really is the total package he seemed to be from his profile.

Read the original article on Datingwithdignity.com

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