Erika had fallen for Connor. He’d followed her on Instagram, and the pair began chatting. There were likes loaded with subtext. The odd story reply. Then long, flirtatious conversations and an exchange of numbers. They’d text every morning and phone one another at night, Connor sharing deeply personal parts of his life. Erica reciprocated. Then doubts set in.
Connor followed fewer than 50 people, but had more than 500 followers himself, many of whom seemed to only post stock images and spam. Erika asked Connor if he was being genuine with her, and he insisted he was. Erika took his word. But her suspicions were raised further when he kept cancelling planned in-person meetings. “He called me and said he was on his way, but kept delaying it, delaying it, delaying it,” Erika recalls. “He’d say ‘obviously I’m going to meet you; I really want to see you’. We’d make another plan, and then he’d bail again. It was like a game of cat and mouse.”
