Is the Hickey app legit?

[Lenox]

I’m a single straight white guy. I’m overweight, bald, and hairy—basically not the best genetics. If I were neurodivergent, I’d have “bad genes bingo.” Oh wait, I kind of do!

I decided to try some dating apps to break my long-lasting singleness. I came across one called Hickey, which had good reviews, so I thought, why not?

Well, here’s why not! It turned out to be a money trap filled with bots and scammers. The first sign was that I matched with a bunch of super attractive women. Me! They were all 10/10, while I feel like a sun-damaged potato.

At first, I thought, “Maybe they have bad taste,” and went with it. Hickey has a feature called “Fun Moments” where you can un-blur pictures using tokens. You start with a few free tokens, but then you have to pay for more. If I didn’t un-blur a lady’s picture, she would say, “You don’t like my photo?” So, my ADHD kicked in, and I impulsively bought tokens to see more pretty faces. That’s how they get you—target lonely people and make them pay for pictures they could find for free elsewhere!

The third clue was when I commented on a “Friday the 13th” shirt one match was wearing, and she looked confused.

Getting suspicious, I asked for a selfie of her touching her nose as proof she was real. She sent a picture of herself in her underwear, but didn’t touch her nose! When I asked again, she said she didn’t want to look stupid.

Okay…

I asked another match for the same thing, and she got defensive. I sent her a selfie of me touching my nose to show I wasn’t a bot. She accused me of having trust issues and said she wanted reassurance too. I replied, “Okay, send me a picture of your… you know.” She refused, saying that would get her banned. When I asked if the app would ban her, she just paused. Then she asked if she could come over to my house on my day off, which felt like a huge jump! I suggested a public place instead, but she said no.

This made me research dating app scams. In some cases, if I send a picture of my genitals, they might say, “Surprise! I’m underage! Pay me or go to jail!” Sending dick pics is just a bad idea anyway—I don’t even want to see my own!

I asked if she still wanted a picture of me, and she said yes. So, I sent her a picture of me flipping her off and wrote, “Tell your bosses they failed. I’m deleting this app.”

She replied, “Fine, I’ll find someone else. The line is long.”

So, I deleted Hickey and now I’m back to being lonely, but with a bit of trust issues.

Now I have some questions for you Redditors: Am I being paranoid for asking for the nose-touching selfie? Is that weird? Did I overreact? Are there better ways to spot fake profiles? And do you have any app recommendations?

[Gary]

That Hickey app sounds like a scam. I’ve been fooled by good reviews before and ended up with a bunch of bots and scammers. Asking for a selfie to make sure someone is real isn’t weird; it’s smart. I’ve had similar experiences where profiles just didn’t add up, and it felt off.

My advice? If something seems off, trust your instincts and don’t waste your money. There are better apps out there where you’re less likely to encounter scammers. Stay safe and be cautious with your trust.

[Roger]

Nope.

I’m in the same situation as you. I downloaded the app out of curiosity, and it was hilarious to see all the “engagement.” I even spent money on the app to get the full experience—stupid, I know—but I had the same thing happen to me. I matched with a bunch of 10/10 girls right away, and when I first made my profile, I had three girls wanting to chat with me instantly, which made me suspicious.

Then it got crazy…

In just five seconds, over 30 “people” swiped right at the same time. I got bombarded with notifications for a whole minute saying things like, “Blank wants to talk.”

So, yeah, don’t get the app. It’s a waste of time and money.

[Carter]

Yes I’ve tried Hickey myself and I completely agree with you.

I think all the girls on Hickey are fake. Almost every single one of the girls I’ve chatted with is from my hometown, but when pressed they can’t answer a single specific thing about the city itself. Responses by girls are typically just a few words.

“What do you like to do in town”

“Coffee”

“What are your hobbies”

“Work on myself”

None of these girls seem to have any interest beyond A) having you pay to simply keep using the app, and B) having you pay to look at pictures.

I’m not sure if there are any real girls on this app, but so far I have not found any. The girls on that app don’t even pretend to be interested in any sort of relationship even though they say they are… Their only interest is getting you to look at pictures.

I don’t think asking girls to take a selfie was an overreaction at all. On apps like this without photo verification, it’s really challenging to determine whether the person is who they say they are. I’ve been pressing girls on Hickey to describe the town they say they live in (which happens to be my town), which they all fail spectacularly at. I honestly don’t see the point of the app saying all these girls live in my exact same city if they have nothing intelligent to say about it.

I had a similar experience on the dating app MeGo, which I highly recommend avoiding at all costs for being a scam from the bottom up. When I became suspicious of the app I reverse image searched the female profile pictures-- nearly every single one came back as being fake, pulled from only fans and Instagram model profiles. I contacted some of these models and they said that their pictures were being stolen for use on MeGo. It’s no wonder that guys get duped into paying for the app and paying for pictures if they think they are talking to literally the hottest girls on the internet.

Hickey is smart in that they don’t allow screenshots at all, even of profile pictures. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if some of these profile photos were taken from random places all over the internet just like MeGo. Near the end of my time using MeGo I did start asking girls to take a selfie of themselves for verification. But then not long after that the app banned me for breaking “community guidelines.”

I think that for both Hickey and MeGo the app developers themselves are in on the ruse. That’s the only reason why there are so many fake profiles, and why these profiles push you so hard to look at pictures, since that money goes directly to the app developers.

Another app I’m using is Flipped, which I’ve had a better experience with. While there are a few profiles I have encountered who really push having you look at tons of pictures (these profiles are obviously fake), I have come across some other profiles which I do think are real.

But Flipped doesn’t have photo verification either.

Honesty, the best apps are the mainstream ones like Bumble, Tinder, and Hinge. Whether or not they are overrated, you are much less likely to come across a scam artist or a fake profile on one of those apps. Plus you don’t have to pay to play like you do on Hickey or MeGo. I’ve used other “off-brand” dating apps like Hi, but I’ve come across numerous explicit scam artists there asking me for money for all sorts of crazy reasons.

From my experience on both Hickey and MeGo, dating app scams are very real. Guys need to be aware of who they are talking to and not get carried away because they think they’re talking to a pretty girl. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

As a final piece of advice, I recommend being highly suspicious of any female profile that calls you “dear”. 10 times out of 10 these profiles turned out to be fake.

[Camila]

As soon as I saw the fake looking pictures , I knew it was a scam. It even unmatches you from someone you’re talking to and have to pay to rematch. Very good way to generate money from lonely ppl.

[Leeland]

I wish I had seen this earlier. This app is a complete scam. Every girl I talked to here is fake. I wish the app let you take screenshots because I would have had some funny things to share. I started messing with them for fun, and it was entertaining, but the app is still a total waste of time.

[Jonathan]

I did something similar by asking them to take a picture with my name on it, like I would for them. It always ended the same way as your experience. The idea of asking for a picture of their nose was good. Whenever I asked for specific pictures, they couldn’t provide them. Basically, every picture you share becomes theirs. If you’ve talked to an AI, you know they can have better conversations than many real people today. The only way to get proof is through these methods. But if you want someone to chat with and feel special, it’s a nice app, just like you said. Just remember that it’s likely a bot, so have fun with it. No one is actually coming to your door unless you pay. I haven’t paid, so let me know if paying changes things. It’s realistic enough to be confusing. Don’t let a bot create trust issues, but I understand your concerns.

[Aiden]

Hey man, I feel the same way. I also have bad genes, but I worked hard for a year and a half to look much better and feel more confident. It just takes discipline and dedication. I’d be happy to help you out as a friend, no strings attached. If you want, just message me. Thanks for the review!

[Grayson]

It’s not real. Why are the “profiles” still talking to you after the time is up, like saying, still there?