Kittenfishing is the new Tinder term you’ll never want to experience

Single people, watch out, because there’s a new dating tactic that you need to worry about.

As if it wasn’t exhausting enough to avoid being ghosted, mooned or breadcrumbed, now daters need to be on the lookout for being ‘kittenfished’ on dating apps.

It doesn’t involve taking your pets on a date, nor does it involve using a fishing rod to physically reel people in. The term is essentially one step on from catfishing - which is when online daters pretend to be someone they’re not.

Kittenfishers, on the other hand, use out of date or misleading pictures to lure in potential partners - presenting themselves in an unrealistic light.

This can involve anything from Photoshopping away tell-tale wrinkles and saying you’re a few inches taller to selecting pictures from several years ago that look nothing like the present day you.

And when it comes to writing a bio, a kittenfisher will deliberately talk up their accomplishments or sparkling personality over the app, in the hopes of bagging a date with a white lie or two.

Dating website Hinge was the first to put a name to the new dating phenomenon, describing it as “well-intentioned”, but ultimately presenting daters in an “unrealistically positive light.”

Experts from the app say: “A kittenfisher’s profile is often comprised of photos that are outdated, heavily-filtered, or strategically angled, text that has been ghost-written by a particularly witty friend, and height that has been rounded by more than two inches.”

According to a recent survey, the trend is growing here in the capital. 38 per cent of men say they have been kittenfished while dating, as well as 24 per cent of women.

And while we all want to present the best version of ourselves online, most of us probably don’t even realise that we’re wildly bending the truth.

Just two per cent of men and one per cent of women admit to having done it themselves – suggesting most people don’t realise the extent of their own lies.

If you’re the victim of kittenfishing, you’ll likely be left disappointed when you meet your date in real life - while the perpetrator is usually left without any hopes of a second date.

Either way, pretending to be someone you’re not won't do you or your date any favours.