Woman creates perfect fake boyfriend on Instagram. Fools everyone.

“Seems simple, I know, but it takes planning, persistence, and a few trusty accomplices.”

Hannah Smothers was torn. The idea of enduring Valentine’s Day, “arguably the best worst holiday”, as a single girl wasn’t entirely appealing. In her words, even the most “hardened broad” wouldn’t mind a friend to call their own, on V day. Even if only for the opportunity to garner some ‘likes’ on Instagram.

But finding and keeping an actual boyfriend is a time consuming exercise that she knew might not be possible before the 14th of February.

A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Feb 4, 2016 at 10:57am PST

So she used some initiative and created a mid way solution: she faked a boyfriend on Instagram. As the relationships editor wrote for Cosmopolitan:

“The key to this con is that it’s a long one — you have to lay the groundwork early in order to really have followers believe you nabbed a doting boyfriend in time for the 14th. But start too soon, and you’ll find yourself backed into a corner, flustering to explain your new boyfriend to your mum by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around. For one week, I did the legwork for you and come up with a foolproof plan to fake an Instagram boyfriend. It’s so simple, and it gets RESULTS. Consider this my personal guarantee.”

She outlines a six post process, to cash in on the likes and create the illusion of a hot new boyfriend. The first stage includes setting the scene. A photo of brunch for two with the vague suggestion that it’s romantic? Tick.

  taking refuge with a new friend ????   A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Jan 23, 2016 at 11:02am PST

Proceed slowly before posting a bunch of flowers delivered by ‘someone special’. A photo of two drinks – one being a beer – and a reference to “the boy” was the post that got Hannah’s friends approaching her.

“WHAT BOY?” Tell me more”

after work drinks with boy A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Jan 27, 2016 at 7:15pm PST

Having teased with the illusion of a boyfriend, Hannah decided stage four had to include photographic evidence of the “boy”. But because “the boy” didn’t really exist, this required a little ingenuity on her part. She placed her hand next to a man’s hand on the rail, drew her phone up close and snapped a pic. Sneaky? Very? Compelling? It seems so.

  ????love on the L train????   A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Jan 29, 2016 at 4:54pm PST

This generated a stack of likes and sparked a series of texts from her friends. “You’re in love????” Emboldened by this Hannah then snapped a rather hot guy in a cafe and suggested they were having coffee together.

best coffee with best guy A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Jan 31, 2016 at 11:06am PST

It was a sure fire winner because as she says “People love hot men, and people also love hot coffee, so I manufactured a situation in which I could stage such a photograph.” It didn’t get as many likes as she wanted: was the caption too much? The final stage was a photo of herself on a date night, eating thai food, because what else do couples do on Sunday evenings??

date night ca(noodle)ing A photo posted by hannah (@hannahsmo) on Jan 31, 2016 at 5:03pm PST

The key in this snap is that both her hands are free – it’s not a selfie! She asked a friend to take the picture which proved she wasn’t alone. Which she wasn’t. But she wasn’t on a date either.

After a week of these photos, her friends were too curious. Who is the new boy? What’s the deal? Why aren’t you telling us more?

The emoji proved indispensable in replying to these messages. They saved her from lying and from elaborating on her new man…. until she was ready to admit it was an experiment.

Hannah and her hot Insta-boyfriend have now broken up but if you’re keen to try her 6 step process, Valentine’s Day is still over a week away…