The XX Factor

Cheaters Beware! If You’re Dumb Enough To Post Pictures on Facebook, You’ll Probably Be Caught.

You may have already heard the news that Facebook is frequently a “tool” for cheating spouses . Well, unsurprisingly, it’s a tool for catching cheating spouses, too. Lynn France, a 41-year-old occupational therapist from Ohio, discovered that her husband was having an affair after becoming suspicious of his frequent business trips. She followed him to a hotel, where she caught him cavorting with a “pretty blonde.” France later confronted her husband, and he promised to end his affair. Life went on. Until one day she searched for the woman’s name on Facebook and discovered that her husband’s supposedly former mistress had a slew of wedding pictures up-and France’s husband was the groom. Oh boy.

A recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported that 81 percent of divorce attorneys have seen an increase in social network exchanges used as incriminating evidence in divorce cases. Though I don’t quite buy into the common implication that Facebook makes a cheater out of you ( one Web site that collects Facebook infidelity tales describes its audience as people who’ve “been cheated on because of Facebook.”)
Look at Don Draper-he has enough illicit rendezvous to make Tiger Woods jealous, and they’re all organized with a charming smile and a landline.

In the case of Lynn France, sure, Facebook revealed that her husband had a second wife and that her marriage was a sham. But on the bright side, it also revealed that her husband is an idiot who quite literally dressed as Prince Charming for his second wedding and was dumb enough to post the pics on Facebook. That has to provide some comfort.

Photograph by Karen Bleier/AFP.