Picture the scene. It’s a Wednesday evening – your night for meeting the girls after work. An attractive man approaches and asks for directions. He flatters you and it turns out you share several interests. The man ends the conversation by giving you his phone number.

What you don’t know is that this man didn’t bump into you by chance. He is a trained investigator, hired by your husband to test your fidelity.

Any texts or calls you make to this man will be forwarded to your husband.

If you agree to meet him again, your conversations might be recorded or secretly filmed as you fall deeper into the “honeytrap”.

We’re all familiar with the female honeytrapper – a temptress sent to seduce our man and test his faithfulness.

But growing suspicions among husbands and boyfriends has given rise to a new species: the male honeytrapper.

And ladies, beware. He is operating in Hampshire.

Of the 73 honeytrap agents employed by ukhoneytraps.net, 24 are male and around a quarter of those serve the Hampshire/Sussex/Dorset region.

Sebastian, a partner in the company and its parent agency unfaithfulpartners.co.uk, began employing male honeytrappers several years ago after a rise in calls from worried husbands.

“Year on year, the demand for honeytraps is rising by ten to 12 per cent,” says Sebastian. “And 30-35 per cent of enquiries are from males concerned about their partners.”

While men are usually regarded as the most likely to cheat in a relationship, a recent magazine survey suggested women are actually more likely to have an affair, with one in six females admitting to cheating on their partners more than once.

It’s hardly surprising then, that more and more men are resorting to private detectives and honeytraps to catch their spouses in the act.

And for every cheating wife, says Sebastian, there is an ideal honeytrapper. His agents – ranging from 18-year-old students to professional men in their 40s – are grouped into types including “toyboy”, “bit of rough”, “sugar daddy”, “student” and even “gay” for “women who like friendships with sexually ambiguous men”.

Wannabe honeytrappers must supply three photos of themselves in different forms of dress and should be “gregarious, confident, social animals, able to absorb information and to think on their feet”.

Like 20-year-old bar worker and shop assistant Luke who has been working as a honeytrapper in Hampshire for 14 months.

“It seemed like fun and a way to earn extra money,” he says. “If the female is in the right place, I have a success rate of about 70 per cent.

“I used to do part-time modelling work and drama so I would say confidence and ability to act is a number one skill to have. My friends always tell me I am attractive and chatting up women of all ages has never bothered me.

“I did have a girlfriend when I started the job but she didn’t want me to do it.

“My mates think its cool but they don’t realise it can be stressful being at the right place at the right time and remembering stuff about the female being trapped.”

Luke has no qualms about getting physically intimate with his “subjects” but he says he has never had to sleep with a woman for his job.

“It’s more kissing and groping, because most men who pay for honeytrapping are too jealous to let me go all the way.”

But doesn’t he ever feel bad about tricking the women?

“I work hard, play hard and get paid. I don’t break any laws so I don’t feel it’s a problem or any less ethical than a wife or girlfriend being a cheat to her hubby. I think of honeytrapping as like getting a survey done on a building.”

When a suspicious husband contacts ukhoneytraps.net or unfaithfulpartners.co.uk he has four main options open to him: bugging his wife with secret recording equipment, putting her under surveillance by a private detective, tracing any unusual numbers showing up on her phone or arranging a decoy/honeytrap.

“Clients often use this service when there’s been a history of flirting or ogling the opposite sex,” says Sebastian.

His agents have an impressive 50 per cent success rate and, says Sebastian, it’s all down to picking the right location.

“The operation is much better performed where the subject is static (not going anywhere), like a wine bar with a friend. We want her to be in her natural habitat – a bit like an animal on a safari.

“Last week, a husband dropped his wife off at her evening class early and we placed our agent in the college refectory. It’s better when it doesn’t look orchestrated.

“We try to get involved in a dummy run so we can see what her movements are. And we try to get some kind of synergy between the agent and the subject. For example, if we know she supports the Saints, the agent might ask for directions to St Mary’s stadium. Then it’s down to the agent how they handle it.

“Ideally, we want the subject to give the agent her number – sometimes she’ll text or call half an hour later.”

While some clients are satisfied with an illicit text or phone call to prove their partner’s intentions, others are prepared to give Sebastian and his team “the full remit”. This could mean allowing their wife to rent a hotel room with an agent.

“Usually we would ‘bust it’ before she jumps into bed,” says Sebastian although, he adds, some clients want evidence of kissing or caressing so their cheating partner can’t come up with an excuse for their behaviour. “Accomplished deceivers are skilled at twisting the truth afterwards,” he explains.

It begs the question: who in this scenario is the biggest deceiver? The unfaithful wife or the husband who is prepared to set a trap for her?

“You do have to think about how ethical it is,” says Sebastian.

“We don’t want the agent to be pushy or imposing. The point is to allow temptation to be there and see if the bait is taken – a bit like fishing.”

Prices for honeytrap agents vary depending on your postcode but a typical rate outside London is £295.30 for two sessions.

“Over the last ten years we’ve noticed that the internet and mobile phones have created a lot more opportunity for communicating with people secretly. It’s sad that so many relationships are floundering.

“I feel I would be very well ahead in finding out if my partner was being unfaithful. However, many partners can be tempted. We are all human.”

Referring to Oscar Wilde’s famous quote, he adds: “Many people – male and female - feel they can resist everything except temptation…”.