How an innocent Facebook post turned into a viral cheating scandal

Social media has been the crux of some seriously adorable love stories. Take, for example, the time a log-in glitch on Facebook that led to the dating — and, eventually, marriage — of a couple who otherwise would never have met. Or, perhaps, the time two soulmates found each other when their third-grade class photo was posted on Facebook. Unfortunately, though, not all stories have that happy, romantic ending, but they can lead to some possible justice.

But let’s start from the beginning. Last Saturday night, hairdressing student Pippa McKinney was celebrating her 22nd birthday at a club in Manchester. Pippa was approached by a guy, and the two got to chatting. “I thought he was gorgeous and we got on really well,” Pippa told Manchester Evening News. “I have been single for eight months. He was really good looking genuine and nice, or so I thought.”

The two spent all evening in the club together. “I was talking to him all night,” Pippa told Manchester Evening News. “We were dancing together and kissing. He had well nice eyes. He kept asking me if I was single and saying I was stunning. He kept saying ‘you’re stunning, are you sure you are definitely single?’ And I asked him the same and he said he was.”

Things even appeared to get serious, Pippa said — “he even asked if I would go back to his mum’s house in Wythenshawe.” So she got his number — only to discover the next day that it was the wrong number. Thinking he could have incorrectly put it into her phone by accident, she decided to take to Facebook to explain her plight.

“The next day I decided to call Matty to see if he got home OK, but the call ended straightaway and I realised I had got his number wrong,” she told Manchester Evening News. “I was gutted.”

So she posted a picture of him imploring her friends and followers for their help in finding this mystery guy who stole her heart on her birthday.

On Facebook, she wrote: “Met this guy last night absolutely stunning, took his number down wrong but would love to get to see him again! He’s from Whythenshaw and is called matt , help anyone haha??”

The post quickly went viral, with almost 2,500 shares and over 22,000 likes. Just an hour later, Pippa’s post was tagged with the name of another girl she didn’t know. . . and it turned out to be the guy’s girlfriend. “I thought ‘who is this’ and clicked on her profile, and that’s when I saw him in her cover photo,” Pippa said. “I felt so stupid.”

His girlfriend, who Pippa described as “very nice,” messaged her asking for the story. “. . . When I realised he had a girlfriend I couldn’t believe it,” she told Manchester Evening News. “. . . I feel embarrassed for his girlfriend too as this is not her fault. I do feel a bit sorry for him now as there are so many people laughing at him but then he shouldn’t have done what he did and he will have to face the consequences.”

The guy asked Pippa to take down the photo, and is now claiming on Facebook that Pippa isn’t telling the truth.

Unfortunately,sometimes Facebook doesn’t play matchmaker, but heartbreaker. But no matter what happened that night, this relationship wasn’t meant to be—better to find out sooner rather than later.

(Image via iStock)