The Cheater Trap
By MARIANNE GARVEY
July 11, 2004

As many as 1,000 New Yorkers a week are checking whether their partners are cheats by using a take-home kit to test suspicious stains on clothes and bed linens.

The $50 test — called the CheckMate 5 Minute Infidelity Test Kit — has been flying off the shelves of city stores over the past year.

Two stores visited by The Post last week — the International Detective Store on Christopher Street and the Spy Store on East 34th Street — were sold out and awaiting new stock. "A lot of men are coming in here to buy it — straight men, gay men, all kinds. And women, too," said International Detective Store Vice President Bob Leonard.

Users drop a chemical contained in the kit onto the suspicious spot and blot it with a small paper strip. If semen is detected, the strip turns purple within seconds. The kit includes instructions that tell the doubting partner not to have sex with their wife or girlfriend for a week before doing the test so they can be sure it's another man's semen.

Holmes said one customer who ordered the kit online said he was worried that his wife was having an affair with their neighbor, who was also married.

"This guy hadn't had sex with his wife in a long time," Holmes said. "He had gotten a pair of underwear that his wife had just thrown on the floor and he tested them. "When it came back positive, he knew the spot couldn't have been from him because they hadn't had sex in a while.

"When he confronted her, she broke down, told him everything, and it ended up that it was his neighbor. He had been in this guy's bedroom in his bed."

Holmes said many of his customers were high-powered wealthy men.

Some people that buy the test kit are scared that their partner will discover they have it. But it shows up as "Evergreen" on a credit-card statement, and when it comes in the mail, it is wrapped in plain paper.

Leonard, who said he can't order the kits fast enough to keep up with demand at his Christopher Street store, said one man who recently came in was determined to catch his wife. "He knew her cycle, he had saved a pair of her underwear to do the test on, he was prepared. He knew she was up to something and had to prove it."

Although the majority of users are men, women are also using the kit to nail a cheating husband.

Men can leave traces of semen in their underwear for up to two hours after sex. Women try to nab their partners if they are skeptical about where he says he's been.

"The women who do this are usually in their 50s and 60s — women whose husbands have grown bored and have a wandering eye," Holmes said. "A lot of wives whose husbands work on the road a lot do the test when he gets home. They just grab an item of clothing from his dirty laundry when he gets back."

If the test results aren't proof enough, CheckMate includes a discount coupon for DNA testing. People can send in the tested item, a bed sheet for example, and a swab of their own specimen to confirm whether the stain matches their own DNA or belongs to a stranger.