10 ms·

Website Sells Fake Facebook Girlfriends

113 points by ytNumbers 14y ago

sharkweek 14y ago
In case you missed it and feel like reading a really bizarre story about fake girlfriends, this account of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o faking the death of his non-existent girlfriend is just too weird -- http://deadspin.com/5976517/ http://deadspin.com/5976517/
- unreal37 14y ago
  He claims he was duped. There's not evidence he faked the death or knew his girlfriend was fake.
  - swang 14y ago
    Did you read the article? It is pretty obvious he perpetuated the hoax or lied about activities involving her to media. Either he is really naive or a liar. He even continued talking about her as a real person to the media even after he found out it was a "hoax" and reported it to coaches 3 weeks later.
    - ernestipark 14y ago
      It is a possibility that he was just embarrassed. I would be..
      - swang 14y ago
        Let's assume that Deadspin didn't trace it back eventually to a close mutual friend of his. So he's _REALLY_ embarrassed because someone online pulled a pretty hardcore prank on him. Yet he still continues to act as though she was a real person even after he found out about it? Because if that is true, it makes it seem to the rest of the sports world that he's just trying to garner sympathy to win the Heisman. That kind of makes him even more scummier: the fact that even though he knows that he got pranked, he continues to perpetuate the lie. Edit: for more context about it, read this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/teo-girlfriend-hoax.ap/?sct=hp_t2_a2&eref=sihp http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130...
        shock-value 14y ago
        Apparently the guy who it got traced backed to 1) wasn't actually a close friend, just an acquaintance the player met relatively recently (after being contacted by the "fake" woman), and 2) had pulled similar stunts on other people in the past. So it definitely isn't cut and dry, and I'm leaning towards extreme naivety on Te'o's part at this point (and possibly some embellishment to cover up embarrassment), although it definitely is a bizarre story either way.
  - theycallmemorty 14y ago
    He may have been duped initially, but he has claimed to have met the girl on multiple occasions. The best case scenario for his credibility is that he was fooled, felt like an idiot and kept lying to prevent everyone from finding out.
- DanBC2 14y ago
  The ultimate story is of the Anandtech forums, where someone invented a woman, sockpuppeted her on the forums, romanced her on the forums, got married, had a child (or she already had one?) and then killed them both off in a road traffic accident. (http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anandtech.com/arcmessageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=102468 http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anan...) (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172) (http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/ http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/) Fakery on the Internet is fascinating and very very common. People fake having cancer; people fake their own situation; people fake their friends. The movie Catfish is a nice exploration of one person's fakery. (It would have been easy to say "OMG SHE'S MENTAL LOL" but it's a surprisingly gentle confrontation and you end up somewhat sympathetic to her.) Here are some other notable fakes: SEXTORTION AT EISENHOWER HIGH (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?printable=true&currentPage=all http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-...) > Last year, an awkward high school senior in Wisconsin went online, passed himself off as a flirtatious female student, and conned dozens of his male classmates into e-mailing him sexually explicit images of themselves. What he did next will likely send him to jail for a very long time DAVE ON WHEELS (http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-whose-identity-was-stolen-for-the-dave-on-wheels-hoax/ http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-w...) > Followers of “Dave” on sites like Twitter and The Chive thought they were reading posts from a deaf young man suffering from cerebral palsy who had worked tirelessly to overcome his obstacles, all the while maintaining a positive outlook and relatably wry sense of humor. KAYCEE NICOLE / DEBBIE SWENSON (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnew...) > For two years, a young American girl recounted her brave struggle against leukaemia in a daily online diary. This month she died. Thousands of web-users sent condolences. But [...] (http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnode.org/article.php?sid=26 http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnod...) (http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson) THE LYING DISEASE - in which a cancer patient is befriended by another cancer patient, who is faking cancer. (Happens three times.) (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content...) WARRIOR ELI - a ten year hoax (http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-decade%20long-internet-cancer-hoax-unravels http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-de...)
whatshisface 14y ago
Just a thought... Be allowing (almost) everyone the same power to falsify information, this company is reducing the power of today's fraudsters to lie convincingly. (Now, people won't trust unreliable sources so easily.) Could this be a good thing?
orangecat 14y ago
They do have science on their side: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17619-its-true-all-the-taken-men-are-best.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17619-its-true-all-the...
- yaker56 14y ago
  Great coverage on this fact at CH: http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/women-prefer-taken-men/ http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/women-prefer-taken...
orangethirty 14y ago
This is kind of scientific from an evolutionary stand point. The company is allowing males to setup a mating ritual display to appear more desirable. I don't know if its scientific, but my fisrt hand experience always had me being more desirable to the opposite sex when I was in a relationship. Now that I wear a wedding band around my finger, I could swear that the effect has increased. Which is quite funny at some times, but very uncomfortable at others. But I wonder what purpose in the evolutionary side of things does the company play? Are they doing like some species that help others mate through their own mechanisms? Or am I just too tired from programming all day and writing endless babble?
- ahelwer 14y ago
  Jumping straight to "from an evolutionary stand point" in these sorts of things is just gross. Evopsych is pretty much BS anyway, and seems to find the most play in circles that enjoy spouting off about how women are this way, and men are that way. The New Yorker had a good article on it. http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/09/17/120917crbo_books_gottlieb http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/09/17/12091...
  - krickle 14y ago
    Sexual selection has been observed in other animals. It's inaccurate to say that all men or all women are alike but it's not far fetched to think humans have certain behavioral trends.
    - ahelwer 14y ago
      Sure. And when these discussions on the internet happen in a vacuum of social studies or experiments it inevitably devolves into people dumping their half-baked post hoc rationalizations on each other backed by some crap anecdotes. It also inevitably turns sexist, especially given the issue at hand.
      - krickle 14y ago
        Ah, I misunderstood you. You're right that our own opinions aren't really relevant without a study.
victorhn 14y ago
Among PUA circles, this is known as preselection, an effect where women become more attracted to men that are already "chosen" by other women, so they may be onto something.
- daeken 14y ago
  Which is really no different than, say, giving precedence in hiring to someone from Google or Facebook. Preselection isn't a bad thing, though gaming it in the dating world is easier than in business. (And not terribly ethical to game in either case.)
unreal37 14y ago
Also R$39 is actually only $20. Brazilian Real is R$2 to US$1.
frostli 14y ago
This is so sad that the website will prob. be profitable soon by all the buzz.
- ddrmaxgt37 14y ago
  Probably not. The buzz will work against them and get Facebook Site Integrity working hard to remove fake accounts.
utopkara 14y ago
Finally a simple product idea that I am jealous I didn't think about it first. Any HN reader could have thought about this, and many could even implement it in a weekend, yet it was these guys. I salute the open mind, and the entrepreneurial spirit.
fossuser 14y ago
Couldn't this be done trivially enough by creating your own fake girlfriend account and commenting on your own page? Is that just too depressing?
- fbpcm 14y ago
  Or for $5 http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?query=girlfriend&x=0&y=0 http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?query=girlfriend&x=0&y...
  - untog 14y ago
    Fascinating. Even more fascinating when you think that there is no guarantee that the person advertising is the person in the pictures. Rip photos from unsuspecting innocent FB profile, create a new one, post on fiverr, profit!
    - mylittlepony 14y ago
      In case someone too naive reads parent, I can count at least 3 crimes there: using someone else's image without consent (is there a name for that?), impersonation, and fraud.
      - throwaway125 14y ago
        is there a name for that? At the very least it's copyright infringement, although I'm not sure it's criminal copyright infringement.
        mylittlepony 14y ago
        I was talking about the protection of your personal image. Let me give you an example: Let's say you are walking down the street, and I take a picture of the street (perfectly legal). But then I crop and zoom the picture to show only your figure, and publish it. That's not legal. I don't know whether it belongs to copyright law (I could imagine something like 'you own the copyrights of any pictures taken of your image') or it's something else.
hcarvalhoalves 14y ago
Escort agency for virtual Facebook girlfriends. Genius. Why am I not surprised this is brazilian?
personlurking 14y ago
"To bolster the ranks of fake girlfriends, the website is inviting women to send in their profiles, with a 50 percent profit-sharing incentive." The site (namorofake.com.br) now says their fake gf profiles are all real women. They've also got a selection of types ranging from Ficante (Hook-up), Ex-Namorada (Ex girlfriend), Namorada (Girlfriend) and Namorada Virtual (Virtual Girlfriend). The difference between the latter two is the virtual gf lasts longer and leaves more comments. Translated from the site/Portuguese... "Because of the large amount of simultaneous hires our profiles are all occupied at the moment. (Now all of our profiles are from real women and not fake profiles.)" On their Depoimentos (Testimonies) page, one guy says... "I had a lot of success. The reaction of my friends was unbelievable, it was (just) three comments that made my Facebook take off hahahaha. I even had some girls from my college adding me, I think it was because of this (site). In a few days I'm going to hire another "ficante" to make me look even more important. Thanks guys..."
- notahacker 14y ago
  Would anyone believe the testimonials on a site that sells fake messages from fake girlfriends?
- GBond 14y ago
  This company's product has a critical mass marketing problem; as more people know about this Brazilian company and the biz model, the more the product is devalued. i.e. Now that I know this, I'm just going to assume that all my FB friends who are in a long distance relationship with a Brazilian girl are in a fake relationship.
  - olivier1664 14y ago
    Does it limit to Brazilian? If the market is here and if they pay $20 per month per annimated fake profile, the problem is now to find a way to emulate fakes profiles to seems real. It would be like playing to the Sim, but being paid.
aakarpost 14y ago
No Man.
hawkharris 14y ago
Don't pay $19 for a disgruntled ex-girlfriend; I'll give you mine for free.
hooande 14y ago
Social hacking at its finest. The benefits of a fake girlfriend go far beyond attracting a real girlfriend. Everyone looks differently at someone who is dating a hot chick. This could be just as valuable in terms of general networking or self promoting. It makes me wonder what similar ideas are out there. For the majority of people, social capital is the most valuable kind of capital there is. Facebook itself is kind of a social hack, and there's a lot more value there. Plus, this is one of the best things to happen to nerdy high school kids. It's like the "I have a girlfriend but she's in canada" on the next level. If you find this business to be repugnant, who do we blame? These enterprising brazilians for starting the website? Or ourselves for being so influenced by relationship status and physical appearance? The human brain is based on simple rules and you can't blame someone for capitalizing on that.
- tsotha 14y ago
  >Everyone looks differently at someone who is dating a hot chick. How do you think they will look at you when the truth comes out? I expect the negatives will outweigh any transient positives by a considerable margin.
  - flyinRyan 14y ago
    That assumes you ever get caught. Though I know of at least one public case where someone tried this and got busted, ruining his reputation, but the problem was he was doing all the content himself and doing it very badly. Presumably this place will write the content for you so you don't accidentally project yourself onto your fake girlfriend.
    - tsotha 14y ago
      What about the people who know you? People who never interact with you in the flesh don't care if you have a girlfriend, but the people you actually see on occasion will eventually expect to see her. You will get caught by friends and relatives. And you may laugh and explain what you're doing, but even as you explain people are going to think "What a loser!"
- 14y ago
mistercow 14y ago
>Sometimes people need to rent a fake girlfriend to make jealous a jealous ex-girlfriend. In truth, we have a lot of clients for that reason, Sometimes technology is depressing.
- enraged_camel 14y ago
  It's not technology that is depressing. It's people.
danhodgins 14y ago
An illustration of how shallow social proof can be. The fact that human psychology can be so simple and game-able at time never fails to amaze me. At the same time, I can't help but objectively analyze their business model and be intrigued by its possibilities - regardless of any moral or ethical landmines.
h2s 14y ago
This is really weird. Everybody on HN appears to be praising this for the clever entrepreneurial idea. I'm kind of amazed that I'm apparently about to be the first person on here to call this out as a hugely misogynistic endeavour. Women should not be treated as a SaaS product.
- diminoten 14y ago
  If it makes you feel any better, you can pay me $39 and I'll pretend to be your boyfriend on Facebook. On a slightly more serious note, this is, in itself, not really sexist in your typical "Internet at large" sexisism. Don't get me wrong, there is some very serious and deep seated (seeded?) woman hating that occurs on the Internet, but this isn't it. This goes way beyond the Internet, and into ancient mores that carry across time and culture, which are definitely sexist, but not the kind of sexist you find in Halo 4. More like the kind of sexist you find when you wander Amsterdam's red light district. Old-school misogyny.
- noname123 14y ago
  I agree. But I wish I could be treated as a SaaS product. I mean men are also objectified by socioeconomic status. Just go into any strip clubs and you'll see that it's not a man's character but the size of his wallet that determines a woman's attention. Or any bar or nightclub for that matter where it's determined by a man's race and social status in whatever social scene that the venue covets in. Man I wish I could monetize on my sexuality because I think I have plenty to give to any needy ladies. Sadly, the backwards 21st century social construct constricts me into repressive gender-roles where I have to solicit sexual services instead of being receptive to all outstanding sexual advances that are demanded of me out there. I only hope feminism could advance further to erase this injustice for gender equality for all.
- Tichy 14y ago
  While I also think it is sad if somebody decides to resort to that service, lets not forget that these "women" are virtual. No real humans are being hurt.
- bambax 14y ago
  This is not selling women, it's selling relationships. Fake relationships. If it's wrong, it's on the same level as selling fake reviews for apps or hotels. I don't think it will backfire for people using it, but it could backfire for Facebook. Because fundamentally, this is spam.
goggles99 14y ago
Am I missing something? Why pay $40 for this??? Cant you just do it yourself for free in about 5 minutes? You could probably set up a fake account with pics found online and have it all set up in less time than it would take to use this service.
- flyinRyan 14y ago
  There is another post on the front page of a guy who tried this and got busted. You're vastly oversimplifying how hard maintaining a lie of this level is.
- JonasKingsley 14y ago
  That's $40 Brazilian reals... roughly $20 USD.
shellehs 14y ago
Like since years ago, in China there are some singles using online or offline methods, to request to rent a boyfriend/girlfriend to go home with him/her, during the days of traditional Chinese new year Chunjie. Because their parents did not want to see them go home alone, maybe, kids went home alone at age 20s was shame to the parents in the hometown I guess. But to the kids, they simply want to avoid parents and relatives to ask them again and again "why did you not find a boy/girl?" "You are not child, you need a partner." "Look at the one (who was a neighbor or someone's parents also living in the same place or whatever), he/she is better than you and has not been single any more." "...". So many questions like these. They will never lose passion to ask you such question till you move ass away home. But these days, boys still lament how hard to stop single life and to find a Goddess, Goddess these days refer to the one you have no chance to make her be your girlfriend. I think fake girlfriend should be a good idea to some people. Some boys will say that cause girlfriends are expensive, they cost you lot of money as well as energy. Having a fake girlfriend You could feel not lonely while don't really need to spend too much.
capkutay 14y ago
Slowly the crooks/phonies are integrating with the social web. Yelp reviewers, linkedin skill endorsers, facebook friends/significant others should be taken into account only if you can confirm it in real life or at least trace it to some level where you can be 90% sure it's the truth.
nnq 14y ago
Naaah, still waiting for "Turing-test passing" AI-girlfriend to appear on the market...
- DanBC2 14y ago
  Given the quality of a lot of Facebook comments any of the Loebner Prize bots would have a reasonable chance of passing as human. (http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html) A bit of tweaking - some learning and some Markov chains - and you'd have something reasonably solid for that narrow gap. Obviously there are trivially easy ways to trip up bots, if you suspect they are bots.
xijuan 14y ago
I just want to see as a girl, I want to see one in which I can buy a fake facebook boyfriend!! Why only gfs?!
borplk 14y ago
This is pretty stupid in my opinion. If you have real friends and family in your Facebook why the hell would you want a fake girlfriend? They will grab some random photo from the internet and create a fake profile...and your friends will ask you about the new girlfriend and you will have to lie to everyone about it and you can only take it so far. Soon (very soon) people will find out and you will look, well, pretty damn pathetic.
transitionality 14y ago
Anyone who's nerdy enough to need a fake girlfriend is nerdy enough to know how to create and populate a fake profile quickly.
ja27 14y ago
Years ago I joked about starting a service that sold fake kid packages after seeing so many co-workers that were able to leave early, work from home, not work over the weekend, etc. because of their kids. For $20 a year you'd get a frame with a couple photos of the kid, some child-created artwork, and a life outside of work.

113 points by ytNumbers 14y ago

In case you missed it and feel like reading a really bizarre story about fake girlfriends, this account of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o faking the death of his non-existent girlfriend is just too weird -- http://deadspin.com/5976517/ http://deadspin.com/5976517/

unreal37 14y ago
He claims he was duped. There's not evidence he faked the death or knew his girlfriend was fake.
- swang 14y ago
  Did you read the article? It is pretty obvious he perpetuated the hoax or lied about activities involving her to media. Either he is really naive or a liar. He even continued talking about her as a real person to the media even after he found out it was a "hoax" and reported it to coaches 3 weeks later.
  - ernestipark 14y ago
    It is a possibility that he was just embarrassed. I would be..
    - swang 14y ago
      Let's assume that Deadspin didn't trace it back eventually to a close mutual friend of his. So he's _REALLY_ embarrassed because someone online pulled a pretty hardcore prank on him. Yet he still continues to act as though she was a real person even after he found out about it? Because if that is true, it makes it seem to the rest of the sports world that he's just trying to garner sympathy to win the Heisman. That kind of makes him even more scummier: the fact that even though he knows that he got pranked, he continues to perpetuate the lie. Edit: for more context about it, read this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/teo-girlfriend-hoax.ap/?sct=hp_t2_a2&eref=sihp http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130...
      - shock-value 14y ago
        Apparently the guy who it got traced backed to 1) wasn't actually a close friend, just an acquaintance the player met relatively recently (after being contacted by the "fake" woman), and 2) had pulled similar stunts on other people in the past. So it definitely isn't cut and dry, and I'm leaning towards extreme naivety on Te'o's part at this point (and possibly some embellishment to cover up embarrassment), although it definitely is a bizarre story either way.
- theycallmemorty 14y ago
  He may have been duped initially, but he has claimed to have met the girl on multiple occasions. The best case scenario for his credibility is that he was fooled, felt like an idiot and kept lying to prevent everyone from finding out.
DanBC2 14y ago
The ultimate story is of the Anandtech forums, where someone invented a woman, sockpuppeted her on the forums, romanced her on the forums, got married, had a child (or she already had one?) and then killed them both off in a road traffic accident. (http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anandtech.com/arcmessageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=102468 http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anan...) (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172) (http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/ http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/) Fakery on the Internet is fascinating and very very common. People fake having cancer; people fake their own situation; people fake their friends. The movie Catfish is a nice exploration of one person's fakery. (It would have been easy to say "OMG SHE'S MENTAL LOL" but it's a surprisingly gentle confrontation and you end up somewhat sympathetic to her.) Here are some other notable fakes: SEXTORTION AT EISENHOWER HIGH (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?printable=true&currentPage=all http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-...) > Last year, an awkward high school senior in Wisconsin went online, passed himself off as a flirtatious female student, and conned dozens of his male classmates into e-mailing him sexually explicit images of themselves. What he did next will likely send him to jail for a very long time DAVE ON WHEELS (http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-whose-identity-was-stolen-for-the-dave-on-wheels-hoax/ http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-w...) > Followers of “Dave” on sites like Twitter and The Chive thought they were reading posts from a deaf young man suffering from cerebral palsy who had worked tirelessly to overcome his obstacles, all the while maintaining a positive outlook and relatably wry sense of humor. KAYCEE NICOLE / DEBBIE SWENSON (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnew...) > For two years, a young American girl recounted her brave struggle against leukaemia in a daily online diary. This month she died. Thousands of web-users sent condolences. But [...] (http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnode.org/article.php?sid=26 http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnod...) (http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson) THE LYING DISEASE - in which a cancer patient is befriended by another cancer patient, who is faking cancer. (Happens three times.) (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content...) WARRIOR ELI - a ten year hoax (http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-decade%20long-internet-cancer-hoax-unravels http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-de...)

whatshisface 14y ago

Just a thought... Be allowing (almost) everyone the same power to falsify information, this company is reducing the power of today's fraudsters to lie convincingly. (Now, people won't trust unreliable sources so easily.) Could this be a good thing?

orangecat 14y ago

They do have science on their side: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17619-its-true-all-the-taken-men-are-best.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17619-its-true-all-the...

yaker56 14y ago
Great coverage on this fact at CH: http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/women-prefer-taken-men/ http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/women-prefer-taken...

orangethirty 14y ago

This is kind of scientific from an evolutionary stand point. The company is allowing males to setup a mating ritual display to appear more desirable. I don't know if its scientific, but my fisrt hand experience always had me being more desirable to the opposite sex when I was in a relationship. Now that I wear a wedding band around my finger, I could swear that the effect has increased. Which is quite funny at some times, but very uncomfortable at others. But I wonder what purpose in the evolutionary side of things does the company play? Are they doing like some species that help others mate through their own mechanisms? Or am I just too tired from programming all day and writing endless babble?

ahelwer 14y ago
Jumping straight to "from an evolutionary stand point" in these sorts of things is just gross. Evopsych is pretty much BS anyway, and seems to find the most play in circles that enjoy spouting off about how women are this way, and men are that way. The New Yorker had a good article on it. http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/09/17/120917crbo_books_gottlieb http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2012/09/17/12091...
- krickle 14y ago
  Sexual selection has been observed in other animals. It's inaccurate to say that all men or all women are alike but it's not far fetched to think humans have certain behavioral trends.
  - ahelwer 14y ago
    Sure. And when these discussions on the internet happen in a vacuum of social studies or experiments it inevitably devolves into people dumping their half-baked post hoc rationalizations on each other backed by some crap anecdotes. It also inevitably turns sexist, especially given the issue at hand.
    - krickle 14y ago
      Ah, I misunderstood you. You're right that our own opinions aren't really relevant without a study.

victorhn 14y ago

Among PUA circles, this is known as preselection, an effect where women become more attracted to men that are already "chosen" by other women, so they may be onto something.

daeken 14y ago
Which is really no different than, say, giving precedence in hiring to someone from Google or Facebook. Preselection isn't a bad thing, though gaming it in the dating world is easier than in business. (And not terribly ethical to game in either case.)

unreal37 14y ago

Also R$39 is actually only $20. Brazilian Real is R$2 to US$1.

frostli 14y ago

This is so sad that the website will prob. be profitable soon by all the buzz.

ddrmaxgt37 14y ago
Probably not. The buzz will work against them and get Facebook Site Integrity working hard to remove fake accounts.

utopkara 14y ago

Finally a simple product idea that I am jealous I didn't think about it first. Any HN reader could have thought about this, and many could even implement it in a weekend, yet it was these guys. I salute the open mind, and the entrepreneurial spirit.

fossuser 14y ago

Couldn't this be done trivially enough by creating your own fake girlfriend account and commenting on your own page? Is that just too depressing?

fbpcm 14y ago
Or for $5 http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?query=girlfriend&x=0&y=0 http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?query=girlfriend&x=0&y...
- untog 14y ago
  Fascinating. Even more fascinating when you think that there is no guarantee that the person advertising is the person in the pictures. Rip photos from unsuspecting innocent FB profile, create a new one, post on fiverr, profit!
  - mylittlepony 14y ago
    In case someone too naive reads parent, I can count at least 3 crimes there: using someone else's image without consent (is there a name for that?), impersonation, and fraud.
    - throwaway125 14y ago
      is there a name for that? At the very least it's copyright infringement, although I'm not sure it's criminal copyright infringement.
      - mylittlepony 14y ago
        I was talking about the protection of your personal image. Let me give you an example: Let's say you are walking down the street, and I take a picture of the street (perfectly legal). But then I crop and zoom the picture to show only your figure, and publish it. That's not legal. I don't know whether it belongs to copyright law (I could imagine something like 'you own the copyrights of any pictures taken of your image') or it's something else.

hcarvalhoalves 14y ago

Escort agency for virtual Facebook girlfriends. Genius. Why am I not surprised this is brazilian?

personlurking 14y ago

"To bolster the ranks of fake girlfriends, the website is inviting women to send in their profiles, with a 50 percent profit-sharing incentive." The site (namorofake.com.br) now says their fake gf profiles are all real women. They've also got a selection of types ranging from Ficante (Hook-up), Ex-Namorada (Ex girlfriend), Namorada (Girlfriend) and Namorada Virtual (Virtual Girlfriend). The difference between the latter two is the virtual gf lasts longer and leaves more comments. Translated from the site/Portuguese... "Because of the large amount of simultaneous hires our profiles are all occupied at the moment. (Now all of our profiles are from real women and not fake profiles.)" On their Depoimentos (Testimonies) page, one guy says... "I had a lot of success. The reaction of my friends was unbelievable, it was (just) three comments that made my Facebook take off hahahaha. I even had some girls from my college adding me, I think it was because of this (site). In a few days I'm going to hire another "ficante" to make me look even more important. Thanks guys..."

notahacker 14y ago
Would anyone believe the testimonials on a site that sells fake messages from fake girlfriends?
GBond 14y ago
This company's product has a critical mass marketing problem; as more people know about this Brazilian company and the biz model, the more the product is devalued. i.e. Now that I know this, I'm just going to assume that all my FB friends who are in a long distance relationship with a Brazilian girl are in a fake relationship.
- olivier1664 14y ago
  Does it limit to Brazilian? If the market is here and if they pay $20 per month per annimated fake profile, the problem is now to find a way to emulate fakes profiles to seems real. It would be like playing to the Sim, but being paid.

aakarpost 14y ago

No Man.

hawkharris 14y ago

Don't pay $19 for a disgruntled ex-girlfriend; I'll give you mine for free.

hooande 14y ago

Social hacking at its finest. The benefits of a fake girlfriend go far beyond attracting a real girlfriend. Everyone looks differently at someone who is dating a hot chick. This could be just as valuable in terms of general networking or self promoting. It makes me wonder what similar ideas are out there. For the majority of people, social capital is the most valuable kind of capital there is. Facebook itself is kind of a social hack, and there's a lot more value there. Plus, this is one of the best things to happen to nerdy high school kids. It's like the "I have a girlfriend but she's in canada" on the next level. If you find this business to be repugnant, who do we blame? These enterprising brazilians for starting the website? Or ourselves for being so influenced by relationship status and physical appearance? The human brain is based on simple rules and you can't blame someone for capitalizing on that.

tsotha 14y ago
>Everyone looks differently at someone who is dating a hot chick. How do you think they will look at you when the truth comes out? I expect the negatives will outweigh any transient positives by a considerable margin.
- flyinRyan 14y ago
  That assumes you ever get caught. Though I know of at least one public case where someone tried this and got busted, ruining his reputation, but the problem was he was doing all the content himself and doing it very badly. Presumably this place will write the content for you so you don't accidentally project yourself onto your fake girlfriend.
  - tsotha 14y ago
    What about the people who know you? People who never interact with you in the flesh don't care if you have a girlfriend, but the people you actually see on occasion will eventually expect to see her. You will get caught by friends and relatives. And you may laugh and explain what you're doing, but even as you explain people are going to think "What a loser!"
14y ago

mistercow 14y ago

>Sometimes people need to rent a fake girlfriend to make jealous a jealous ex-girlfriend. In truth, we have a lot of clients for that reason, Sometimes technology is depressing.

enraged_camel 14y ago
It's not technology that is depressing. It's people.

danhodgins 14y ago

An illustration of how shallow social proof can be. The fact that human psychology can be so simple and game-able at time never fails to amaze me. At the same time, I can't help but objectively analyze their business model and be intrigued by its possibilities - regardless of any moral or ethical landmines.

h2s 14y ago

This is really weird. Everybody on HN appears to be praising this for the clever entrepreneurial idea. I'm kind of amazed that I'm apparently about to be the first person on here to call this out as a hugely misogynistic endeavour. Women should not be treated as a SaaS product.

diminoten 14y ago
If it makes you feel any better, you can pay me $39 and I'll pretend to be your boyfriend on Facebook. On a slightly more serious note, this is, in itself, not really sexist in your typical "Internet at large" sexisism. Don't get me wrong, there is some very serious and deep seated (seeded?) woman hating that occurs on the Internet, but this isn't it. This goes way beyond the Internet, and into ancient mores that carry across time and culture, which are definitely sexist, but not the kind of sexist you find in Halo 4. More like the kind of sexist you find when you wander Amsterdam's red light district. Old-school misogyny.
noname123 14y ago
I agree. But I wish I could be treated as a SaaS product. I mean men are also objectified by socioeconomic status. Just go into any strip clubs and you'll see that it's not a man's character but the size of his wallet that determines a woman's attention. Or any bar or nightclub for that matter where it's determined by a man's race and social status in whatever social scene that the venue covets in. Man I wish I could monetize on my sexuality because I think I have plenty to give to any needy ladies. Sadly, the backwards 21st century social construct constricts me into repressive gender-roles where I have to solicit sexual services instead of being receptive to all outstanding sexual advances that are demanded of me out there. I only hope feminism could advance further to erase this injustice for gender equality for all.
Tichy 14y ago
While I also think it is sad if somebody decides to resort to that service, lets not forget that these "women" are virtual. No real humans are being hurt.
bambax 14y ago
This is not selling women, it's selling relationships. Fake relationships. If it's wrong, it's on the same level as selling fake reviews for apps or hotels. I don't think it will backfire for people using it, but it could backfire for Facebook. Because fundamentally, this is spam.

goggles99 14y ago

Am I missing something? Why pay $40 for this??? Cant you just do it yourself for free in about 5 minutes? You could probably set up a fake account with pics found online and have it all set up in less time than it would take to use this service.

flyinRyan 14y ago
There is another post on the front page of a guy who tried this and got busted. You're vastly oversimplifying how hard maintaining a lie of this level is.
JonasKingsley 14y ago
That's $40 Brazilian reals... roughly $20 USD.

shellehs 14y ago

Like since years ago, in China there are some singles using online or offline methods, to request to rent a boyfriend/girlfriend to go home with him/her, during the days of traditional Chinese new year Chunjie. Because their parents did not want to see them go home alone, maybe, kids went home alone at age 20s was shame to the parents in the hometown I guess. But to the kids, they simply want to avoid parents and relatives to ask them again and again "why did you not find a boy/girl?" "You are not child, you need a partner." "Look at the one (who was a neighbor or someone's parents also living in the same place or whatever), he/she is better than you and has not been single any more." "...". So many questions like these. They will never lose passion to ask you such question till you move ass away home. But these days, boys still lament how hard to stop single life and to find a Goddess, Goddess these days refer to the one you have no chance to make her be your girlfriend. I think fake girlfriend should be a good idea to some people. Some boys will say that cause girlfriends are expensive, they cost you lot of money as well as energy. Having a fake girlfriend You could feel not lonely while don't really need to spend too much.

capkutay 14y ago

Slowly the crooks/phonies are integrating with the social web. Yelp reviewers, linkedin skill endorsers, facebook friends/significant others should be taken into account only if you can confirm it in real life or at least trace it to some level where you can be 90% sure it's the truth.

nnq 14y ago

Naaah, still waiting for "Turing-test passing" AI-girlfriend to appear on the market...

DanBC2 14y ago
Given the quality of a lot of Facebook comments any of the Loebner Prize bots would have a reasonable chance of passing as human. (http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html) A bit of tweaking - some learning and some Markov chains - and you'd have something reasonably solid for that narrow gap. Obviously there are trivially easy ways to trip up bots, if you suspect they are bots.

xijuan 14y ago

I just want to see as a girl, I want to see one in which I can buy a fake facebook boyfriend!! Why only gfs?!

borplk 14y ago

This is pretty stupid in my opinion. If you have real friends and family in your Facebook why the hell would you want a fake girlfriend? They will grab some random photo from the internet and create a fake profile...and your friends will ask you about the new girlfriend and you will have to lie to everyone about it and you can only take it so far. Soon (very soon) people will find out and you will look, well, pretty damn pathetic.

transitionality 14y ago

Anyone who's nerdy enough to need a fake girlfriend is nerdy enough to know how to create and populate a fake profile quickly.

ja27 14y ago

Years ago I joked about starting a service that sold fake kid packages after seeing so many co-workers that were able to leave early, work from home, not work over the weekend, etc. because of their kids. For $20 a year you'd get a frame with a couple photos of the kid, some child-created artwork, and a life outside of work.