"nightline." >> tonight, inside an investigation with a hoax detective.a on go fund me reveals an alleged bogus illness claim. how this fake disease investigator uncoverses cull tritts feigning ove at first swipe. >> take a look at your dating profile. >> the tricks to finding love online. how this couple found love after swiping s outrage. over a lack of diversity in this year's nominations. actress jada pinkett smith and her message to hollywood.

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good evening. thanks for joining us. it began with a desperate plea on what appeared to be a

me page. a sob story that detective says turned out to be a tall tale. tonight, inside the investigation as she says she uncovers a couple's attempt to exploit their supposed illness online.em. here's abc's alex perez. >> reporter: it's a heartbreaking saga. >> let's keep looking through their y, my name is julian, i'm making this account for my sick husband jason taylor. i've never done this before, he can really use all the help he can get. >> reporter: jason martinez, appare variety of cancers. >> he's been sick all his life with cancer off and on. for the past five years he's had a brain do you mean which is nowassume, stage 4 bone cancer -- >> reporter: jason's loyal husband gilian baker takes to the crowd funding internet site go fund me to make the passionate plea, life." a story tair rin harper wright

tale, the emotional pleas for help and money. just one problem -- she thinks >> my name is taryn harper wright and i am a hoax hunter. >> reporter: the 37-year-old former futures trader from chicago prides herself on being called the er fake illness detective. >> i used to read "nancy drew." something like that, getting to the bottom of a story. >> reporter: she cracked 17 cases ofud in the last three years. part of the soaring internet crime rate that the fbi says costs consumers $800 million a year. busted way back in 2012 might sound familiar. remember little eli durr, the courageous 6-year-old cancer suor eli? >> i think he had three types of cancer at one point. >> reporter: the internet had been humming with his story for years. but taryn wright was skeptical. on a searching the web for other places durr photos might have appeared. lo and behold this image of

posted on their dad'sbook page, also appeared on a site of a popular mommy blogger in of all places south africa. >> i discovered over 70 children. >> reporter: eli's entire story a fake. >> i didn't realize until after the first hoax that i uncovered, i didn't realize how much this >> reporter: we met with taryn as she was preparing to post her latest case to her blog, taking a last look at julian and jace's go fund me appeal before>> please, he could use all the help he can get. >> you read that and that's pulling your heart strings if you don't know more. >> eporter: she says he has a psychological behavioral condition, known as munchausen by internet. >> munchausen by internet is a term i coined in 2000 to cases in which people go online and either lie about or exaggerate psychiatrist dr.

expert on bogus illness claims. >> they do that because they like the emotional they get from having people pay attention to them. >> reporter: but what are jason and julian's claims and why is wright so convinced they're tart she says jason doesn't seem to know the first thing about the cancer he has supposedly been battling for years. >> the way that he's describing things, he can't name the that he has. he knows it begins with a "c." >> reporter: she says the couple's claims of fatal illness jason's apparently healthy appearance in photographs. dr. feldman agrees. >> a photograph of him holding a child, looking reporter: even claiming jason has rust in his blood from staples allegedly left inside his body that he says put him on>> this was among the most highly suspect cases i've ever seen. and i've been looking into these cases for 20 years.

picture of jason allegedly close to death from cancer and pneumonia lying in a hospital had pneumonia, a blood pressure of 174 over 100, the doctor apparently told him he was on his dead bed,n oxygen mask, an iv. he would not have a mask like a cough. >> reporter: the monitoring machines according to cal fellow bloggers body. and, of course, their repeated requests for money. >> theirmoney. and so i do think this falls into the criminal criminal? julian has previously been arrested and convicted of negotiating worthless strums. taryn says this case all comes down to the go fund me page with a $45,000goal. >> how much money have they raised so far? >> $1,870. when you look at the stories of

wish i could do so much more, i'm literally in tears looking at your page, i'll send you more when i can. >> reporter: for wright it's time to press to go live with this. >> reporter: the response, almost instant yus. >> now i just got one from jason. the guy that has hell? it's not a hoax. why would someone lie about being sick? i would never. that's not right. now i figure that's crazy, why would you even say that to me?otherapy treatments do not require a co-pay when you're a medicaid patient. couple insisted they were telling the truth, posting on their go fund me page, i'm really sick and going through a lot and people want to say this kind of stuff, it hurts us bad. want to lie about anything so painful as this? just four days after taryn revealed her findings, go fund meign and

go fund me told us they removed the campaign due to a high velocity of complaints andement, we remove any accounts we deem to be fraudulent, ban the campaign organizer from our site, and work actively with law enforcement to help them prosecute after taryn's story posted jason and julian set up a time to meet with abc to tell us their side of the story. but canceled at the last repeated attempts to interview them failed, we went down to rural alabama to pay them a visit. we're coming up home that we believe jason and julian live in. hello! my name is alex perez with abc ing to find julian or jason? can you help us out? >> they don't live here no more. >> reporter: the landlord later told us they left suddenlye and owed money. >> did you hear anything about a

named taryn wright? do you know if any of them was sick? >> i know jason was s on oxygen 24/7 -- >> reporter: we're going to call them and see if we can find them. let's try julian first.bscriber you have dialed is not in service. >> voice mail. >> reporter: the silence wouldn't last long. the couple reaching out to us by e-mail, denying they hadng wrong and saying they would talk to us when they were ready. we're still waiting to have that conversation. >> based upon the evidence, this is made up from dayr: taryn sees the takedown of jason and julian's go fund me as another feather in her cap, something that w nancy drew, if real, very proud. for "nightline," i'm alex perez in chicago. >> taryn is aister network fusion and

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and the tricks of the trade that might help you find mr. right. heartthrob ben higgins and the beauties competing for his love on this go-round of "the" make looking for love look glamorous. the only problem, it seems, is choosing the onetive options. >> do you accept this rose? >> yes, of course. >> reporter: in real life if you're single and looking for likely you're glued to a screen. just ask jessica schiffman. >> it's difficult nowadaysre so attached to their phones and they don't like to have phone conversations. they concentrate on texting, texting, she wants a lasting relationship. >> i'm looking for stability and just a loving ter: but for jessica and

her, finding a true romance can explosion of swipe dating aprils. tinder, hinge, bumble, where users determine attraction at the blink of an ey good guys out there but it's up to us as women to require them to be good guys. >> reporter: simone is host of "love at first swipe."ecret sauce to successful app dating is personal branding. >> that's not the message, i'm guessing, that you want to send to potential suitors. deep relax, take a deep breath. decide what you want. decide three things you want tor personality. that's all you need. if you know you're creative and love to be funny and love to cook, great. how long we incorporate that in your profile? >> these things. >> reporter: on the show she and cohost clinton kelly give struggling online date areas makeovr dating profile. >> reporter: both online --

>> whoo, girl. >> reporter: and face to face. >> we need to replace that with whatever you want it to be but it needs to be>> reporter: the intervention is geared up with one thing in mind, attracting perhaps less quantity but higher quality ating apps have plenty of critics who say they're superficial, promoting easy hookups over real love. simone is a veteran online apps can lead to true love. >> you were on tinder two years, how many other dating sites did you try? >> i grew up on them all. all right?r it. >> oh my god, the dirty laundry's coming out. i've been on match. i did date someone on while. >> reporter: she met fiance nathan on tinder. >> did she have a good online profile? if so, what made it good. >> it was , thanks, babe. you've never had this question, thank you.

i swiped right in all of about >> love at first swipe. >> absolutely. >> reporter: within weeks the couple deleted the at pps from their phone. >> what was the deletion ceremony? or waskoomd kind of like a rose ceremony in reverse? >> it was. you pull owl your phones. it was like, all right, do you take this no longer being on fore we could even finish, nathan had already deleted, pressed the x button so it was gone. >> reporter: they're now engaged and the rest is tinder >> do you have a ring? >> we've got a ring. >> reporter: jess cass hoping for the same happy ending but having a hard time mastering the swiping left and right, i couldn't just base what i wanted just looking at a picture. >> reporter: so laurel house, a los angeles-based love guru, is coachingpe on how to turn her online matches into real-life dates. >> the expectation on an app is

you need to teach him, this is my expectation. >> you can find a dating apps. but you have to make sure that you take control of the app. >> reporter: to do that she advises, insist on talking, not just texting. >> you wantl before you go out so that you can talk to them, you can get to know them a little bit, before you meet them in person. >> reporter: next, perfect your photos.s profile pic when she met nathan. >> it showed my silhouette so you could see my figure. the reason i did that is because it was someone want to look at the rest of the pictures. >> reporter: devin says many people don't strike the right balance. >> what would your this? >> something along the lines of, get dressed. >> reporter: it's something that she and clinton try to correct on the show. >> i never thought dresses looked but seeing it, seeing it put together this way, wow, i'm trying not to get emotional. but it really does look pretty.

there are even professional like tinderheadshots.com on will help put your best face forward. >> you your photo. there shouldn't be a lot of animals in front of you, there shouldn't be a terrible, harsh, low lighting so they can't see you. you shouldn't be with 20 look like you or better than you because maybe they dressed up and you were in sweats. you want to highlight yourself. >> reporter: once you score the date, be sure you're bothe thing. >> if someone starts with "of i love your lips, you have sexy lips," okay, i know where this is going, delete. don't even respond. delete. >> reporter: with the help of her coach, jessica is now back on tinder with a new and improved profile. >> i want ai want to be with somebody who i can be with forever. i know it sounds very cinderella. but that's what i want. stable, loving relationship. >> reporter: hoping she'll swipe

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it's a hollywood sequel that has some of the industry's biggest stars saying they'll boycott its most celebrated econd year in a row all white. and tonight as americans honor the legacy of dr. martin luther king jr., two african-americanstars say they're

here's abc's linsey davis.e revenant." "spotlight." >> it's the whole country, it's the whole ter: the martian. >> it's space. it doesn't cooperate. >> reporter: many of this year's best picture nominations are high intensity. tonight the real drama is happening off-screen as backlash the oscars' lack of diversity. for the second year in row, all best, lead, and supporting actor and actress nominees are white. even the best picture feature predominantly white ensembles. the absence of minor nominees inspiring big namesycott the ceremony. including director spike lee whose film "shy rock" didn't pick up nominations. jada pinkett smith won't be attending, releasing

>> begging for acknowledgement diminishes dignity. >> reporter: the hash tag oscarssowhite is making a revival. people tweeting 50 shadeseen nominated for more oscars than people of color this year. and oscars so white rocky got about apollo creed's son. among the snubbed, will submit, who played a forensicussion." >> that was dope. >> reporter: the critically acclaimed "straight outta nomination for screenplay. many noted the writers are white.e first black president of the academy, has said incorporating minorities in the film industry is a priority. >> we are loudere going to continue this >> reporter: she announced the academy will be conducting a review of membership in hopes of

the spotlight is now onchris rock. he's this year's host. and many are wondering if he'll address the controversy onsame. earlier this week he tweeted out a new curse! >> reporter: a caption calling awards. for "nightline," i'm linsey davis in new york. >> the february 28th on abc. thanks for watching. tune into gma tomorrow. as always we're online on our "nightline" facebook page and at