Weird Online Dating Situation ... What Do You Make Of This?

[joko]

A mate of mine does online dating and was telling me about another friend of hers (one i don't know) who has 'struck lucky' with a guy she met online.
she excitedly told me about how this bloke seems amazing and after one date bought her a brand new fancy phone because she had said hers was playing up and he said he didn't want to lose touch with her... (!)

my mate was all jealous etc, but to me that's a bit much, and actually kind of weird.
we talked generally and i said that seems like a control thing - she now sort of 'owes' him and cant very well just not see him again now.

i also said maybe he has bugged it ... i know there is easily available, secret spy software you can install in phones - so he can read her message listen to calls etc

her excitement began to fail obviously and even though she at first said i was just paranoid, she eventually began to be a bit suspect too.
i said, well there is a reason this software exists and people do do stuff like that, and even weirder stuff than bugging a phone, so its not that far fetched.

now if this bloke was rich and a new phone was buttons to him, i'd think maybe he was just generous and extravagant - but he lives at home with his mum, has no car, and just a normal job ... so its a bit much to spend 200-300 on a phone for a stranger...

what would you make of this?

I suggested she tell her mate to reset to factory settings to delete anything installed... just in case

cheers

[DaisyNonna]

Don't take sweets from a stranger.