“Identifying Professions Where Cheaters are Commonly Found – A Specialist in Catching Love Rats”

A professional ‘love rat catcher’ has revealed the jobs that cheaters are most likely to occupy.

Madeline Smith, who is based in Los Angeles, assists women who have doubts about their partners’ fidelity. Over the past three years, she has conducted more than 5,000 investigations and managed to uncover numerous cases of infidelity.

Her methods involve a variety of strategies, such as reaching out to suspects through social media. Once a response is received, she collects evidence by taking screenshots of the interactions and provides the incriminating proof to the concerned woman. Surprisingly, her services start at just $65.

And as requests continue to flood in, the 30-year-old has revealed which professions occupy the prime position on her list. 

Madeline revealed that police officers are the most common cheaters she encounters – and she’s caught more than 100 of them.  

Her findings chime with a survey by affairs website Illicit Encounters, which also found police officers were guilty of being the biggest cheats.

According to Madeline, her work exposes a pattern where people in certain professions, like firefighters, police officers, military personnel, and paramedics, are more prone to cheating based on her observations and experiences.

‘I’ve probably caught over 100 police officers since I started doing this. That’s the most likely profession to cheat in my experience.

‘They’re always looking for an opportunity and they’re only as loyal as their options or perceived options.’

After police officers, Madeline said personal trainers and gym-going guys werethe second group most likely to stray. 

‘If I see a certain kind of profile, I know that they’re a cheater,’ she said.

She added: ‘Personal trainers and gym people fall into this category. The ones who post progress pictures or ones where they’re flexing their muscles.

‘A gym picture here and there is not a big deal but when it’s their identity it’s a huge indicator.

‘I find that when people post loads of photos of themselves travelling and they’re the only ones in the photos it’s a red flag.

‘They’re probably with someone, most likely their significant other, but they don’t want anyone to know. Why? Because they’re probably cheating.’

Personal trainers were followed by business and sales professionals who travel a lot for conferences and therefore have ‘opportunities to cheat’.

Madeline said: ‘Cheating gives them a sense of feeling invincible and I think they compartmentalise too much.

‘Their family life is their family life and if they’re travelling they dissociate too much and it justifies their behaviour in their eyes.

‘Those guys aren’t usually super active on social media. Their attention is focused on their jobs and social media doesn’t really do anything for that.

‘Plus it’s easy to meet people to give them attention if they’re going out to dinners or bars for work a lot.’

Next up was lawyers who Madeline said adopted a ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality.

This meant that they often took longer to reply so you have to place a ‘patient game’ to catch them.

Doctors came in last place and were not high on Madeline’s list, something she puts down to the long hours they have to work.

She has only contacted a few, including several dermatologists and a few plastic surgeons, but found that they are usually more at risk of cheating with the staff they’re working with.

She spoke as Illicit Encounters – the UK’s biggest affairs website – released its top cheating professions of 2024.

In it, an astonishing 63 per cent of police officers admitted to playing away in the last 12 months.

This represented a whopping 21 per cent more than general builders (42 per cent) who lay in second place, according to a poll by the website.

Salespeople (37 per cent), personal trainers (31 per cent) and roofers (28 per cent) lay in third, fourth and fifth places respectively, the affairs website found when it surveyed 1,400 members last month.

The most loyal profession was carpenters with less than one in 10 (nine per cent) admitting to cheating. They narrowly beat scientists (11 per cent) and parking attendants (15 per cent), according to the poll.

Responding to the findings, Jessica Leoni, the website’s resident sexpert, said: ‘They’ve got to be rough and ready for their jobs and it looks like they’re not different with their love lives.

‘We always knew that police officers liked to play the field but even we were surprised by how many admitted to having an affair.

‘We haven’t been able to say why. It might be down to them working shifts that gives them more opportunities to cheat.

‘Whatever it is – two thirds of them are up for it, whether they’ve got a partner or not.’

And Madeline explained why she thinks so many men cheat despite being in seemingly happy relationships.

‘A lot of the infidelity and seeking outside of the relationship is about not having the right partner or not being happy with themselves,’ she said.

‘It can also be because people aren’t patient enough to find the right person or patient enough with themselves to realise that they need to do a lot of work.

‘They need to have a lot more emotional awareness because people who are content with themselves, even if their partner is cheating or doing something, the first thing they are going to do is take the time to heal and feel better about themselves.

‘They are not going to go and find someone else straight away.

‘I think in general people are severely emotionally stunted and men much more so. They look for an opportunity because they have historically never had to be accountable for their actions.

‘Women usually fixate on one person to compensate for all their emotional discrepancies and try and fix them despite knowing deep down they’re unlikely to change.’

Madeline set up her business after being inspired by Cheaters, a TV show which reveals disloyal lovers. 

She has multiple phones and social media accounts which she uses to track down cheats.

Madeline messages men who are under suspicion from their partners to see if they take the bait. 

Her clients fill out a ‘loyalty test’ profile where they explain the situation and make their requests in an anonymous form.

She will then progress the conversation as far as the client wants – even sending nudes to catch the men out.

Madeline said previously: ‘There are so many types of guys and I know exactly how to play each one – smart guys, dumb guys, suspicious guys.

‘I feel so much of it is intuitive. I can look at a profile and immediately know [a guy’s] personality.’

Madeline said she was obsessed with Cheaters in high school, which revealed love rats live on TV.

She and her friends would then try to do the same thing with people they knew – without much success, but, in 2018 Madeline decided to go full-time.

She said: ‘It’s kind of crazy how it evolved.

I was obsessed with the TV show Cheaters and eventually it turned into a thing where other women would ask me to investigate their men.

‘In 2018, I properly formed the loyalty test. With all the experience I’ve had over the years, I decided to come up with a game plan and system.’

Suspecting women will reach Madeline through her contact form with information about their relationship and any past offences, along with how aggressive her technique should be.

It is then up to Madeline, who is in a relationship with a music producer, to investigate the man.

She claimed that, in some cases, they seem extremely dangerous – and she will advise the woman to seek legal help instead.

For cases she accepts, Madeline will set the bait through the form of a message.

She said: ‘I submit everything into a confidential database and then hit up the guy. It could take five minutes to get through to them – or two days.

‘I see if they take the bait and then I will tell the girl and see what they want. For some just replying is enough to prove their infidelity.’

Madeline said that typically the girl will have a ‘gut feeling’ and has usually been in the relationship for between one and two years.

She added: ‘There’s a gut feeling – most of the time she can’t explain it.

‘There has usually been some kind of incident before.

‘It could be he cheated on her in the first six months and he won’t let the girl see his phone.

‘And there are always Snapchat notifications – it’s always Snapchat.

‘The girls always feel they are being made out to be crazy and are made out to be the disloyal partner, despite never having cheated.

‘Most women always feel sad or mad coming to me and I reassure them it’s perfectly acceptable for them to need answers about where they’re investing their love and life.’

Madeline said she will contact the suspect and adjust her technique depending on his interests, personality and what his weaknesses were in the past.

She added: ‘When I was assessing a recent client’s boyfriend, he was very suspicious – he didn’t give a lot back, but was engaging and ultimately failed.

‘He liked the attention and was smart and I ended up using maths with him and he directed me towards Snapchat.

‘I did sexting and videos with him. I would ask questions such as, ‘Do you want the circumference or the diameter?’. It turned into a teacher-student dynamic.’

Madeline said 80 percent of messages she receives are regarding repeat offenders.

And she often busts men who have wives and children – and can even help women obtain the upper hand in divorce proceedings.

She said: ‘One client’s husband spent so much money on hookers and hotels and racked up debt on a credit card with cam girls.

‘She asked me to help prove he was still doing it so she could take half the money back.’

Madeline claimed she has a legal team and makes sure she acquires to the nuanced laws in different states.

She said: ‘I’m not looking to put my hand in anyone’s bank account. Most girls are very cognisant of time and we work with each other as we go.

‘Depending on the financial situation of my girl, I can bend at times.’

And Madeline said it’s not always bad news – as sometimes men pass the loyalty test with flying colours.

She said: ‘My favourite thing is to get blocked. The guys who pass will say I have a wife, girlfriend or fiancée and she wouldn’t like this.

‘The best thing is when they say thank you for reaching out and block me.’