‘Two girlfriends of the guys involved [also] dumped them’: Woman discovers her boyfriend and his friends ran a months-long “loyalty test” on her, leaves him, and shares the screenshots

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jun 10, 2026 3:45 PM EDT

Running a loyalty test on your girlfriend is already a weird thing to do. I mean, not weird if your main quality as a person is "insecure," but for anyone with some self-respect? Weird. But this dude here didn't just give it a go and drop it, oh no. He was running it for months with four friends, and a rotating roster of fake accounts built from stolen photos is a whole organization dedicated to the bit. And weird is too small a word for that kind of thing, so I'll let you decide on one

The logic behind loyalty testing reveals everything about the person doing it. The entire premise is that you suspect someone of being untrustworthy, so instead of talking about it or leaving, you build an elaborate fake scenario to catch them in the act. If they pass, great, you keep dating someone you were convinced was going to cheat on you. If they fail, you have your answer, but you also just spent weeks actively trying to make that happen. Neither outcome solves the original problem, which is that you do not trust the person you are with.

The fact that this was a full-blown group project is what really takes it to another level. This was not one paranoid boyfriend with a bad idea. This was a coordinated operation with multiple participants, fake identities sourced from real people's photos, and enough persistence to keep creating new accounts every time one got blocked. They treated a relationship like a research study and kept running trials because the results were not dramatic enough yet. At some point, the goal stopped being about loyalty and started being about finding a reason.

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  • Woman lying in bed under a blanket while looking at her phone in warm low light.
    via Renato Leal

    Illustrative photo of a model portraying a woman reading messages after discovering a relationship betrayal.

     

  • I (22F) had been dating my boyfriend (24M) for almost two years. Things were good, or at least I thought they were.
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  • A few months ago, I got a DM from a random guy on Instagram. He was attractive and started making small talk. At first I
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  • assumed he was just being friendly, but after a few days he started flirting.
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  • I immediately told my boyfriend because I thought it was weird.
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  • He laughed and said the guy was probably just shooting his shot.
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  • The messages kept coming. He asked if I was happy in my relationship, complimented me constantly, and eventually asked if I wanted to meet up.
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  • Woman sitting beside a bed in blue light, staring suspiciously at her phone near a nightstand.
    via Renato Leal

    Illustrative photo of a model portraying a woman looking suspiciously at her phone while sitting beside a bed in blue light.

  • I blocked him.
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  • A week later, another guy messaged me. Then another.
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  • At this point I was getting annoyed. One of the accounts accidentally sent me a screenshot that included a group chat notification. I recognized the profile picture of one of my boyfriend's best friends.
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  • I got suspicious.
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  • Woman sitting on the floor beside a bed at night, looking worried while reading her phone in warm lamp light.
    via Renato Leal

    Illustrative photo of a model portraying a woman looking worried and suspicious while looking at her phone like the woman discovering her boyfriend's loyalty test.

  • So I did some digging. One account was using stolen photos from a fitness influencer. Another was using pictures from a university athlete's public profile. None of the accounts belonged to the people in the photos.
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  • I confronted my boyfriend. He denied everything. Then I showed him the evidence.
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  • Turns out he and four of his friends had created fake male accounts to "test my loyalty" because one of them was convinced that every girlfriend cheats if given enough opportunities.
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  • They'd been doing it for months. Apparently every time I blocked an account, they'd create another one because they wanted to see if I'd eventually respond.
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  • I asked if he seriously thought catfishing me with fake men was normal behavior. He said it wasn't a big deal because I passed every test.
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  • Passed. Like I was some kind of social experiment. I was furious.
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  • And then there is the passed every test response, delivered like she should feel relieved, even grateful, for having successfully navigated the obstacle course her own boyfriend designed without telling her. Congratulations, you cleared all the fake men we sent you, the relationship can continue. That is not reassurance. That is someone genuinely confused about why this framing is not landing well.

  • So when mutual friends started asking why we'd suddenly broken up, I sent screenshots of the messages and explained exactly what happened.
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  • I didn't post them publicly, but the screenshots spread quickly through our friend group. The fallout was immediate.
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  • Woman smiling at her phone while sitting up in bed under blue light, looking pleased and relieved.
    via Renato Leal

    Illustrative photo of a model portraying a woman feeling vindicated and content while reading messages on her phone in bed.

     

  • Several people thought the whole thing was manipulative and creepy. Two of the girlfriends of the guys involved dumped them after learning they'd spent months running fake accounts to test women.
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  • Now my ex says I overreacted. He claims it was a private relationship issue and that I had no right to tell other people.
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  • According to him, I ruined multiple friendships and relationships over something that was meant to be harmless.
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  • Some people agree and think I should've just broken up quietly.
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  • Others think if a person's actions fall apart the second people find out about them, maybe those actions weren't harmless to begin with.
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  • Edit: Wow, I didn't expect this to get so many responses. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to comment and share your opinions. I'm reading through
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  • everything and trying to respond where I can, so thank you if I haven't gotten to yours yet.
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  • I'll also update once I've had a chance to send him this post and show everyone his response!! Thank you all again for making me feel less insane.
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  • Sharing the screenshots with mutual friends was not overreacting. It was just information traveling to people who had a direct stake in it, including two girlfriends who turned out to be in the exact same situation without knowing it. The fallout was not caused by the screenshots. It was caused by months of coordinated deception that only stayed quiet because nobody else knew about it yet. Actions that collapse the moment other people find out about them were never actually harmless. They were just private.

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relationships red flag dating
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