Who is really on the other side of the conversation? Fake profiles and catfish.

How do you know that the person you are chatting to online is actually who they claim to be?

The Internet has made it so easy for people to connect with other people all over the world. Most people who create online profiles, do so honestly and with the intention to connect with friends, family, colleagues or new people. They share pictures, videos and posts of their activities and thoughts so that their group of followers and friends can share in their lives.

However, since it is so easy to create a profile and have access to billions of photos already available online, some people create a fake profile where they pretend to be someone else. They use these false personas to connect with unsuspecting people. They steal photographs from other profiles and claim them to be their own. They might create multiple profiles and then use these to show that they have friends and these friends often comment or share on their posts. But, they are really doing it all themselves. We call these people catfish.

What is a catfish?

A catfish is someone, who pretends to be someone else, to entice their victim into an online relationship. Nearly every predator or paedophile will start their relationship with your child pretending to be someone they are not. They will craft a fake online persona and profile that they know will appeal to your child. This persona will have the same interests or similar backgrounds to build rapport with your child.

All people are vulnerable to Catfish. We find fake profiles on online dating, social networks, communication apps, online gaming, and millions of people are harmed every day. They are also very common when someone wants to bully, harass, spy on, stalk or lure their victim into a dangerous situation. These fake profiles allow the predator to show up anonymously, which gives them a sense of freedom and confidence that they won’t be caught.

With internet dating, there is another term called “kittenfish”. A kittenfish is someone who uses their own name and photographs in their profile, but the pictures were taken when they were much younger.

Tips for spotting a catfish with a child or teenager profile:

• The friend tells your child to keep their relationship secret.
• The profile pictures are a little too perfect. (This is not always the case, but if the picture looks like a film star or supermodel you need to check it out.)
• Sometimes all their photos on their social profile look like they were taken on the same day. This is an immediate red flag as most social profiles show photographs taken over months or years.
• The friend never agrees to having a video chat with your child. The friend might also refuse telephone calls. Usually using excuses like “My webcam is broken” or “I don’t have airtime for a call”. This is most common when an older predator is posing as a young person.
• Over time, the back-story changes. It is difficult for liars to remember what they said in the past and sometimes the stories get mixed up. A friend claiming to be an only child might mention a sibling later in the conversations. These inconsistencies are usually ignored and if anything is mentioned, the criminal will distract your child by changing topics.
• There may be a story, or more than one story, where the friend experienced a tragedy or is experiencing something terrible in his life. These stories play on your child’s sympathy and can result in drawing your child closer emotionally. They are also more likely to “do a favour” for someone going through a hard time.

Tips for spotting a catfish with an adult profile:

All the tips above apply here too. But these are some additional red flags you should look out for.

• The person has an interesting job that often involves travel – which is why they sometimes experience technology problems or run out of money. These are often jobs like: engineers, geologists, construction, doctors, military service and others.
• The person claims to be from a specific area but, if they talk to you on the phone, you notice that their accent is different to what you would expect from that area.
• They claim that their computer doesn’t have a webcam or their phone cannot do video calls.
• They will send you hundreds of messages or emails but never call you.
• Their profile picture looks very attractive – almost like a model, actor, singer or other famous person.
• They claim to be “new” to online dating, or just wanting to meet people.
• They claim that they will be leaving the platform (dating app or website) in a short while, and will include contact details in their profile in a manner which the algorithms will not identify. For example: joe blog at gmail dot com.
• They rapidly move you off of the platform where you met and onto email or a messaging app where the original platform cannot monitor the communications.
• They will bombard you with messages right from the start (this is called love bombing). They will shower you with compliments and very quickly claim to be falling in love or already in love with you – even though you’ve only been communicating online.
• They will experience an emergency situation and will ask you to send them money to help them, with the promise that they will pay you back.
• They claim to have access to a large fortune that will soon become available – such as an inheritance, Bitcoin, lottery winnings, gold, and others.
• To someone in the world, every accent sounds foreign and most people experience the occasional typo. However, if the person’s accent does not sound like it should (given where he claims to be from), or their spelling and grammar are very bad, you should be cautious.