Catfished: Met-up with someone using a heavily edited photo

I was using this app to meet with someone, exchanged photos and decided we meet up kasi nga he looks quite good and this person is my type.

Pero when we met up, he looks far beyond the pictures he sent me. I felt I was being catfished. I asked him if those pictures were his and he said sa kanya talaga daw. I was affront to tell him na he looks different from the pictures and he admitted na the pictures were edited using an app.

I am a very respectful person ha so did not reject him agad agad. We introduced ourselves and talked a little but when he invited me to his place, I politely declined na.

I am just wondering, why do people send heavily edited pictures online? I think it is better to get rejected online rather than getting rejected personally. If a person meets up with you, it is expected naman diba na that person is expecting to see a resemblance of what you sent rather than seeing a totally different person? Di ko talaga gets why people use a heavily doctored picture in their online accounts - aren't you just lying to yourself?

I am sorry ha, I am not maarte pero we do have preferences and di talaga ako picky.