Banksying: How to tell if you're falling victim to the new toxic dating trend

The past few years have brought about major changes in the dating world. Portals and apps like Tinder and Bumble make it easy for us to meet new people – but they also create a lot of non-commitment. Having countless options at your fingertips at the click of a button can make it overwhelming to choose just one.

Banksying as a new relationship scam

Unfortunately, these developments also lead to unpleasant and often cowardly dating scams, such as ghosting or benching . A new relationship trend is so-called benching.

The whole thing is named after the street artist Banksy, who is famous for his works suddenly appearing and just as unexpectedly disappearing. A well-known example of his artwork is the painting "Girl with Balloon," which sold for around 1.2 million euros at auction – only to be immediately shredded by automated means.

How to tell if you're a victim of Banksying

Banksying in dating resembles the mechanism of the surprising appearance and disappearance of Banksy's works. "Banksying is a subtle and particularly cowardly form of emotional manipulation because it occurs under the guise of intimacy," explains Philipp Schwarzenberg, managing director of the dating agency Sympathica. "The other person remains in the dark – and is ultimately abandoned by surprise."

The dating expert admits that banksying is somewhat reminiscent of the well-known practice of ghosting – where the partner suddenly stops contacting the person and stops responding to messages or calls. Instead of a frank discussion about the breakup, the affected person is left feeling perplexed.

But what the crucial difference is between ghosting and Banksying, what makes this new dating trend so perfidious, and how you can recognize that you might be falling victim to this relationship scam, you'll find out in our video.

mbl Brigitte

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