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Home / Lifestyle

Model claims she was banned by Tinder for being 'too attractive'

By Rebekah Scanlan
news.com.au·
10 Nov, 2020 07:25 PM4 mins to read

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The model claims she was "too attractive" for the app. Photo / Instagram

The model claims she was "too attractive" for the app. Photo / Instagram

A model has said she's "too hot for Tinder" after claiming she was banned by the dating app for being attractive.

Luna Benna, 21, signed up to the popular dating app after becoming single three years ago.

But the model – who earns a living sharing raunchy photos online – said she was extremely popular with men, which led to people stealing her images and creating fake profiles.

As a result, Benna claims Tinder banned her profile, ruining her chances at finding love.

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"People were stealing my photos and making money using my images. Catfishing, basically," she said.

"There's so many fake profiles out there, whenever I start a legit account I get reported and Tinder has me taken down."

She also said that "being too good looking" led to men bombarding her with indecent proposals – adding "from time to time, people would threaten me".

View this post on Instagram

We’re feelin’ a bit salty today and that’s perfectly okay. 😉

A post shared by ˗ˏˋ Luna Benna ˊˎ˗ (@luna.benna) on Oct 9, 2020 at 8:44am PDT

The Chicago-born model said there was even a fake Facebook account that had thousands of followers.

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"I just need to keep reminding myself I can't do anything about it, and it's out of my control," she said.

The offers from men weren't all bad according to Luna, who now lives in the US state of Florida.

"People offered me vacations, proposed to me – even offered money if I agreed to meet up with them," she said.

"I never actually went through with that one, by the way."

Before she was banned, Benna revelled in the attention and went on a few dates, too – but they all ended in disaster.

View this post on Instagram

Repeat After Me! I am enough. What I do is enough. And what I have is enough. Self-care is not self-indulgence. Self-care is self-respect. Little Reminder during our time indoors. Gotta nourish = flourish. Use this time to heal your mind and body. Ground yourself. Set goals. Read up. Clean up. Stay Positive. Try New Hobbies! Time is nothing but a construct. You’ve never painted? Stay up until 3am painting tonight. (not really unless you truly want to). But make the best of being inside! Make the best of this change. Being with yourself and your pets/loved ones. Thinking about everyone right now☀️🙏🏻. We can do This you guys. Stay SAFE. Stay HOME. Wash your hands. Stay Woke. Photos From “Checked Shirt” @suicidegirls 📸 @writeboy

A post shared by ˗ˏˋ Luna Benna ˊˎ˗ (@luna.benna) on Mar 23, 2020 at 8:59am PDT

"I definitely matched with people I liked. Did lots and lots of texting and FaceTiming, phone calls – the whole thing," she explained, adding she only ever met up with a couple of people.

"One was a super awkward experience – the dude said my presence was so powerful it made him uncomfortable.

"He said it honest-to-God temporarily paralysed him and he'd never met a woman like me before.

"We didn't have much in common and the vibe got weird after that."

In an especially sinister development recently, Benna claimed many of the fake Tinder profiles are using her images to attract people into sex work.

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"Some of those profiles using my pictures – so it looks like me, but with fake names, like Jessica, Amber or Natalie – refer to themselves as escorts or sex workers," she said.

"At first I tried confronting them but it never ended well. The outcome would typically be a block.

"And it would motivate the catfishers to look even more 'real' and 'authentic' now that they knew I was aware."

One silver lining for Benna is that she did meet someone through the app before her account was shut down.

"I met my new guy, my current significant other, on Tinder, just before the ban," she said.

"He picked me up and we went back to his place for dinner.

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"I knew friends of his before meeting him, so I already expected to have things in common and be with safe company."

The pair – who are both into photography and modelling – now work together producing racy content for Benna's Instagram and OnlyFans subscription account.

"We're pretty much a power couple," she said.

On Instagram Benna has 1.2 million followers with whom she shares risque photos of herself, including bikini and lingerie shots.

She often accompanies them with sassy captions such as, "I'm not lucky, I'm talented" and "exercise makes you more attractive".

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