It’s certainly not uncommon for people to bend the truth a little bit when describing themselves on their online dating profiles. Though it will eventually need to be honed up to, a lot of online daters seem to believe that adding a couple extra inches to their height or shaving a few years off their age might help them attract some attention on the web. Some studies have found that men lie on their online dating profiles more often than women, while others find the opposite to be the case. In any case, both sexes seem to do it quite often.

Yet, while men and women are apparently both lying on their profiles, they are not lying about the same things. The most common thing for male online daters to lie about on their profiles is their job, stating that they’ve got a better one than they actually do. Women, on the other hand are most likely to lie about their weight, shaving a few pounds off their waists.

Top 10 Lies For Men:

1. Job (better than it really is)
2. Height (taller than they really are)
3. Weight (thinner or buffer than they really are)
4. Physique (more athletic)
5. Having more money
6. Having more seniority at work than they really do
7. More interesting profession
8. Personally knowing celebrities
9. Having a personal assistant or employees
10. Working in the film industry

Top 10 Lies For Women

1. Weight (losing a few pounds)
2. Age (younger)
3. More toned physique
4. Height
5. Having more money.
6. Bustier.
7. More glamourous profession
8. Personally knowing celebrities.
9. Having a personal assistant.
10. Working in the entertainment industry.

 As you can see, there are both interesting differences and similarities among the most common online dating lies for men and women. Men seem more likely to lie about professional and financial aspects of their life, while woman tend to bend the truth a little bit more about their physical appearance. Obviously there are problems with both of these types of lies. Upon meeting in person, physical differences in a person’s appearance might be easily identifiable. Some studies have shown that around 20% of women post older and somewhat misleading photos of themselves on their online dating profiles. As for the lies regarding financial matters, they probably aren’t too hard to pick up on either. If your date bragged of his affluence online, but seems to tend toward the cheap side in person, he was likely making some of it up. A whopping 40% of men have admitted to making themselves sound richer when trying to meet singles online.

The differences in lying patterns among online daters are not gender based, but geographical as well. One study has found that while 53% of Americans have told lies on their profiles, just 44% of British online daters have done the same. Does this mean that Britons are a more honest people?

In spite of the differences between genders and nationalities, there seems to be one consistent truth that transcends all groups of people: the older people get, the less likely they are to lie on their profiles. This seems to be the one redeeming factor within the studies conducted upon online dating lies, and it seems to prove the age-old fact that with age comes greater wisdom. One third of people studied admitted that falsifying their information online actually hindered their ability to take any relationships beyond the first date. Thus, in the end, perhaps it is ultimately best to just go with honesty. While the Internet does allow you the freedom to represent yourself any way you wish, this freedom does’t quite translate well into the real world. If you want to make meaningful, face to face connections with people beyond the realm of the Internet, you’re probably better off telling the truth.