It is easier than ever to pretend to be someone else.

Scammers easily hide their true identity by pretending to be someone else – maybe even you or your child. They can then remain anonymous as they commit their crimes under stolen identities.

There are many reasons why they would pretend to be someone else – the most obvious of which is so that they don’t get caught. If the person is creating a fake persona to develop a relationship with someone else, we call them “catfish”. Some catfish connect with their victims so that they can extort money from them. Others do it because they are lonely and don’t feel good enough to meet people in the real world.

As technology advances, it becomes even easier for them to create very realistic fake personas.

Nearly every phone has more than enough photo and video apps to create realistic photos or videos and then to manipulate or edit these into looking completely different. They can even make a video where they can place someone’s words over someone else’s video. These are called “deep fakes” and are very convincing.

Many of these deep fake videos have been used to spread false news and cause reputational harm to the victim. This video shows just how easy it is to do so.