Woman claims boyfriend ‘faked his own death’ to ghost her in viral TikTok

‘I just screamed out loud,’ one viewer wrote

(TikTok / @kathrynverb)

A woman has gained sympathy from people on TikTok after claiming that her boyfriend of two years “faked his own death” to ghost her.

In one of the latest trends on the platform, people have been sharing their stories of the worst ways they have been ghosted, with a woman named Kathryn, who goes by the username @kathrynverb, recently sharing her own story.

According to Kathryn, who said the TikTok prompt was made for her, she had been with her boyfriend for two years and thought that she was going to “marry him, have his babies, and spend the rest of our lives together”.

However, when the pandemic began, Kathryn said that her boyfriend told her that he thought he might have Covid and that he was thinking of going to the hospital.

“He said he was thinking of going to the hospital because he felt so bad, but then miraculously he was starting to feel better,” Kathryn recalled. “But it was that same day he told me he was feeling better that I never heard from him, ever again.”

In the clip, Kathryn then goes on to reveal that, from that point on, her longtime boyfriend stopped responding to her calls and texts, and that a week later, his phone was going straight to voicemail.

According to Kathryn, she “freaked out” and assumed the worst, with the TikTok user revealing that she started calling local hospitals and asking whether he was a patient, only to be told that he was not there.

@kathrynverb

##stitch with @kekeyee the irony of being ghosted by someone faking their death is just *chef's kiss* ✨perfection✨ ##ghosted ##selfworth ##datingstories

♬ original sound - Kathryn

“I called all the hospitals in the area. He wasn’t there,” she continued. “I called the police and filed a missing persons report, and you know what they told me? They told me my boyfriend did not exist.

“So not only did my boyfriend ghost me by faking his own death, he also had lied to me for two years about his real identity,” Kathryn concluded.

The clip, which was uploaded on Thursday, has since been viewed more than 2.8m times, with people expressing their horror over the story in the comments.

“My mouth dropped,” one person commented, while another said: “Girl WHAT.”

Others suggested that Kathryn’s boyfriend was likely married, and could no longer keep up his fake identity once lockdown began.

“Probably married, stay at home order, can’t hide it,” someone else wrote. Another said: “100 per cent chance he was married. Then had to work from home.”

Many people also encouraged Kathryn to share photos of her former partner, with someone else writing: “Don’t be shy, show his picture so we can find him.”

In a follow-up video, Kathryn revealed that she has discovered her former partner’s real identity, but that it took her seven months.

@kathrynverb

I'm sorry, WHAT?!?! 😳 ##greenscreen ##ghosted ##datingstories ##selfworth ##fyp ##boundaries ##mentalhealthtiktoks

♬ original sound - Kathryn

She also encouraged those who had viewed her video and identified her ex themselves to “let it be” and “don’t engage or talk to him”.

This is not the first time Kathryn has opened up about the experience, as she previously shared 12 videos on the subject, in which she concluded that she wants a “logical answer” but that she knows his “actions are not logical”.

“This is clearly a very traumatised person and I hope that he can find the help that he needs to heal,” she said. “While I sometimes do feel angry and sad, I hold no resentment towards him.”