For those who suspect that their partner is cheating on them, help could be just a few clicks away. "Loyalty testers" have taken the honey trap online. For a modest fee, suspicious people can hire someone to "flood" their partner's direct messages and see if they will take the bait, said Sky News.
After Savanna Harrison, 27, was cheated on, she decided to help other women avoid the same hurt she went through. She started working for a company called Lazo, which markets itself as a "tool designed to see intentions and let go of toxic relationships".
Harrison performs dozens of loyalty tests a month on people – usually men – who are suspected of cheating on their partners. A typical "mission" sees her message her client's partner using tailored "details" that the client has suggested.
A small percentage of men targeted in this way immediately shut down the tester, but "roughly 70% take the bait", said The Cut. During the test, which typically lasts about five days, Harrison will be updating her client, providing screenshots of the incriminating conversations.
The history of "honey-trapping goes back a long way" and is "not a new invention with social media", Dr Julia Carter, a senior lecturer in sociology specialising in marriage and relationships, told Grazia. Ethically, it might not be too far from hiring a real-life detective to uncover infidelity. But social media "allows and enables a more public invasion of privacy", so "we are still in the process of working out where our moral and ethical boundaries fit with its use".
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