My brother met a woman on an LDS dating site a few years ago. Over time they began to IM and later to talk on the phone. She was going to Harvard to be a doctor, is in her mid-20s and is beautiful. She and my brother started talking quite a bit and he thought he was falling in love with her. There was only one problem - when she finally moved to Utah, and it was possible they could meet in real life - she always had last minute excuses and they never ended up meeting.

The excuses this woman made up got more and more out there and I was telling my brother that she probably wasn’t all she said she was. He was obviously affected each time she made plans and then backed out. She even went so far as to say that she needed heart surgery in another state. Also, that she went to Europe because her grandmother died. And then she got sick and had jet lag. It went on and on.

Our mom decided my brother should do some more research about his Internet girlfriend.  Pretty soon my brother found some other men who were corresponding with the same woman. Come to find out she was stringing them along with the exact same stories. She was talking on the phone to a few different guys - sometimes for several hours a day. He had lunch with one guy who was engaged to her but she stood him up when they were supposed to meet. He almost bought the ring but said he’d prefer she come with him to pick it up.

My brother confronted her and she admitted that she didn’t live in Utah, wasn’t who she said she was. She and her friends have a good time leading men on. What a waste. So what the moral of the story is - a real, average-looking person is much better than a beautiful, rich imaginary one. While it’s sad that she managed to lead so many men on, it’s also sad that they were so willing to buy into the fantasy.