We've all heard the horror stories. The "model" on the dating app who turns out to be a scammer using stock photos. The "CEO" who actually lives in a basement. The internet allows us to curate false personas, editing our lives to look perfect while hiding our flaws. Catfishing thrives on distance and anonymity. When you can't see someone, you can be anyone. But physical reality? That's much harder to fake.
You Can't Photoshop Real Life
When you connect with someone on Hamsey, they are within ~100 meters. You can often literally see them across the room or down the street. The person in the app matches the person in the coffee shop. This immediate visual verification is the ultimate anti-catfish tool. There is no hiding behind 10-year-old photos or filters when you are meeting face-to-face in real-time. What you see is literally what you get.
Accountability and Reputation
People behave better when they are not anonymous. In a vast online forum, trolls thrive because there are no consequences. In a local network, reputation matters. You're not just "User123"; you're "that guy from the gym" or "the girl who walks the golden retriever every morning." This shared context fosters better behavior. If you are rude or deceitful in your local community, word spreads. This natural social accountability encourages people to be their better, more authentic selves.
The Death of the "Keyboard Warrior"
It's easy to be aggressive or dismissive via text. It's much harder to be rude to someone who is standing ten feet away. Proximity humanizes us. It reminds us that there is a real person behind the profile. This leads to kinder, more polite interactions. Hamsey restores the social contract of civility that the anonymous internet often erodes.
Building Trust Faster
Trust is the currency of connection. On traditional apps, it takes weeks of chatting to build enough trust to meet. With proximity applications, the environment validates trust. If you are both at a specific professional conference, you already share a level of vetting. If you are both in a university library, you share an institutional trust. Hamsey leverages these pre-existing trust layers to accelerate connection.
