A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone else online. They trick other users into believing they’re communicating with the person they claim to be. Read on to learn where the term catfishing comes from, how you can spot this scam, and what you can do if you’ve been catfished. Also discover how to use tools like Avira Free Security to surf the internet more safely.
What does catfishing mean?
Catfishing is when someone uses another person’s pictures and details to create a new identity online. The perpetrators usually use this to create social media accounts and contact other users. Often, perpetrators imitate the profession, location, and preferences of the person whose images they use. Some even go further and create multiple fake identities with different social media accounts to make their catfishing profiles appear legitimate to others.
Where does the term come from?
The practice of catfishing has been around for many years. However, the term only became popular in 2010 after Nev Schulman released a documentary about this practice called Catfish. After the MTV series of the same name was launched in 2012, the term entered everyday use.
Why does someone become a catfish?
There are many reasons why people catfish others. These often include:
- Insecurities: Often, insecurities about their own appearance or character are what drive people to become catfish. This is why catfishing often occurs on the dating app Tinder or other dating portals, where the perpetrators create fictitious identities to enter into online relationships with others.
- Mental illness: Mental illness can cause people to feel unattractive enough to not want to date online using their own identity. It’s easier for them to make contact with others behind another person’s mask.
- Cheating: People often use catfishing to chat with others outside of a romantic relationship.
- Fraud: After a catfish has gained someone’s trust, they often demand money. Worse still, victims usually pay up because of the emotional connection. Similarly, exchanging explicit images may lead to sextortion — a specific form of blackmail.
- Defamation: Fake profiles are created on social networks with the pictures of a certain person to damage their reputation and in doing so take revenge. This is also a form of catfishing.
- Self-exploration: Some people try to explore their sexual preferences by creating a fake profile. This allows them to confidently explore their preferences without revealing their true identity.
Most of the time, people who engage in catfishing are dissatisfied with themselves and have low self-esteem. They can let go of their insecurities behind the profile of an attractive person.
What impact does catfishing have on victims?
The scam can have many and varied impacts on victims. Catfishing can be harmful to the mental health of victims, as many of them have difficulty trusting others afterwards. This is especially true if they’ve developed a strong emotional bond with the perpetrator — be that friendly or romantic.
Likewise, victims might develop anxiety or depression as a result of catfishing. This can happen especially when the catfished person has shared explicit images with the perpetrator, and the perpetrator publishes them or threatens to make them public. Many catfish also persuade their victims to send them money, so victims can be hurt in the pocket and their heart too.
What’s the difference to cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is when a person is embarrassed or humiliated online. By contrast, catfishing harms the target because the perpetrator toys with their emotions and might even publicly humiliate them. The perpetrator can also use possible insecurities against the victim. This makes catfishing a specific form of cyberbullying.
Spotting catfishing: What are the warning signs?
It can be difficult to spot this type of online scam. However, there are some tell-tale signs you’re being catfished. Let’s explore them now:
- Few pictures: If your contact has only a few pictures on their social media profile, this could be a sign of a catfish. This is because the person gets their photos from other sources — usually a genuine social media profile. This means catfishers have no control over when the person they steal the images from will post again, so they rely on the actual person sharing pictures regularly. You can do a reverse image search on a search engine to check if your contact’s profile picture is of someone else.
- Hardly any contacts: If the person has few friends in the contact list on their online profile, this may be a sign of a catfish. You should be super suspicious if the person interacts hardly ever or never with their friends.
- Few phone calls: If the person you met online and with whom you are in contact almost daily doesn’t want to talk to you on the phone or only wants to talk to you very rarely, you should be suspicious. If you do make a phone call and the voice sounds unnatural, it’s possible that the person behind it is the opposite gender to what you expected.
- No video calls: Do you have regular, perhaps even daily contact with someone, but they don’t want to video chat? There could be a catfish behind the camera trying to mask the fact that they’ve stolen someone else’s identity — referred to as identity theft.
- Canceled meetings: A catfish will try to avoid meeting you in person at all costs. To maintain their credibility, perpetrators often agree to meet with their victims — but then usually postpone or cancel at short notice.
- Stories with holes in them: If your online acquaintance tells you stories about their job or life that don’t add up, your alarm bells should be ringing. This is especially true if events seem too far-fetched to be believable. People suffering from low self-esteem in particular often try to attract attention in this way.
- Personal information: If your online contact quickly asks you about your childhood or other very personal information, this may indicate catfishing. This is how the person tries to gain your trust to manipulate you and create a false sense of intimacy. You should be especially careful if the person doesn’t reveal anything about themselves.
- Strong feelings: Even though you only just met the person online, are they already declaring undying love? If so, watch out as this might be a social engineering tactic to quickly gain your trust.
Your alarm bells should be ringing if your online acquaintance asks you for money. This is a common tactic, making it a clear sign of catfishing. Never send money to someone you have never met — even if it’s only a small amount.
Is catfishing illegal?
It’s not in itself a crime for a person to use a fake profile to pretend to be someone else. However, catfishing can be prosecuted if there’s evidence of fraud, extortion, or coercion. Catfishing then becomes a criminal offense, which can be punishable by a fine or a prison sentence of up to five years or more depending on where you live.
What can victims do?
Got a gut feeling you’re communicating with a catfish? Then pause or break off contact with the person completely. Don’t reveal any further information about yourself or send any money. You can also take these steps:
- Report the fake profile: You can report a fake account to the platform operator. To ensure that it’s removed, send screenshots of the profile as evidence. If intimate content about you has been published and you’re being blackmailed with it, report this to the platform operator to have the compromising content deleted.
- Block the contact: You should block the account so the catfish can no longer contact you.
- Check your accounts: Check your online accounts for any indications of suspicious activity. Review your privacy settings and adjust them if necessary to protect your personal data.
Someone’s pretending to be me online — what can I do?
Is someone else impersonating you online using your pictures? Or has your account been hacked and taken over by a scammer for catfishing? In both cases, report the incident to the platform operator. Also check if your passwords are truly secure and create strong passwords.
Tip: If you’ve fallen victim to identity theft, Avira Identity Assistant (currently only available in Germany) can help you restore your identity.
How can I steer clear of catfishing?
It can be difficult to avoid falling for a catfish. After all, in the digital age we come into contact with a large number of people online every day. This makes it almost impossible to verify the authenticity of every identity. However, by following the tips below, you can reduce the risk of becoming a victim of catfishing:
- Stay alert: If you communicate online with someone you don’t know, always remain a little skeptical. This is especially true if you’ve only recently started chatting with each other and you have no evidence that the person is who they claim to be.
- Never send money: Never send money to someone you only know from the internet. It’s typical for catfishers to trick their victims into believing that they’re in a tight spot and need money urgently. However, never fall for this scam — especially if your contact tries to blackmail you emotionally as that’s a clear sign of a scam.
- Go slow: Get to know the person before sending explicit pictures or sexual messages. If your contact is not into you, they could use this information against you and, in the worst case, even blackmail you or publicly expose you.
- Involve a trusted person: If you have any concerns about your online contact, talk to someone you trust. Together, this change of perspective can help you to spot the warning signs that you might be oblivious to yourself.
- Ask questions: With catfishing, the perpetrator often asks a load of questions to obtain as much information on their victim as possible. You might like being smothered in attention at first, but there needs to be a balance. You should also ask questions to get to know the person you’re talking to. You can identify a catfish more quickly if their story doesn’t add up.
Stay safer online with an antivirus solution
In the case of catfishing, perpetrators try to quickly gain the trust of their victims and create an emotional bond with them. They often trick you, pretending to be in danger and urgently needing money. There are also hackers lurking among the catfish, who use social engineering techniques like phishing to access their online contacts’ accounts. Make your online activities more secure with an antivirus tool.
Avira Free Security includes protection features that, thanks to cloud-based detection of the latest threats, can spot viruses and other malware in real time. The tool also comes with a password manager to easily generate unique passwords. And thanks to the integrated VPN, you can surf more anonymously with the antivirus solution than in incognito mode.
