Catfishing
There can be no doubt, the online world is firmly entrenched in our daily life and has many benefits. We relish the opportunities to use it in our workplace roles, for practical things like shopping and banking and, through social media platforms, make and maintain relationships.
Along with the benefits, we all know it brings the potential for scams. In fact many institutions such as banking are proactive in maintaining security measures and actively warning customers. But in the world of social media there is little to protect users from becoming victims of a particular type of scamming - catfishing.
What is catfishing?
Catfishing is a form of online abuse. Perpetrators skilfully target and coerce victims into relationships, which can be friendships or romantic relationships, usually with the purpose of extortion but can also include other forms of harm.
The perpetrator sets up a fake account, with a background created to make the victim believe the content is real. This includes a fake life history enhanced by fake photographs. In some cases they adopt the profile of others e.g. impersonating celebrities, hoping that the victim will believe they are receiving attention from the real person.
Flattery is the key mode of a catfish. Their purpose is to create the illusion that they genuinely care for their victims. They will invest time in developing this false caring loving relationship to gain the victim’s trust, all with the purpose of some form of extortion. They often invest considerable time and effort into researching a victim’s digital footprint so they can present as having lots in common with their intended victim, indeed the ‘perfect’ partner.
As the relationship progresses, victims will be tricked into sharing information. The perpetrator gains this basic personal information and secrets which they can then use to exploit them. Exploitation can include:
- Financial scamming – where the victim is persuaded to send them money or other types of finance;
- Blackmailing – by threatening the victim that they will reveal the secrets they have shared;
- Sextortion- where the blackmail focusses on publicly revealing nude or intimate images / videos that the victim has been coerced into providing.
Recognising catfishing
So how do you recognise catfishing? We all want to be liked and loved, and perpetrators will exploit this, so awareness is key. Well there are some simple things to look for:
The profile
If anyone randomly contacts you take a good look at their profile. Most catfishing perpetrators will keep their profile information to a minimum. After all, from their perspective the less they lie about the easier it is to maintain their false identity.
The same applies to their posts. Limited posting and online interaction with others, one or a few photos and low ‘friend’ counts may signal the account is fake. Also, check if they have any presence on other social media sites and check if it is a carbon copy of the original profile.
Photographs
Check out their photographs. It is really easy to run an image search on any of their account photographs. Simply type their name into a Google search, then click on the images tab. You can compare the results with the profile pictures to see if they match. Also uploading their photo to Google or TinEye’s image reverse search is a another way to identify if the image has been previously used.
Knowledge
Do they seem to know a lot about you? As said earlier, perpetrators will research their victims so they can appear in tune with your likes and dislikes. If they’re lazy they may want to connect with you on all your social media sites. That way they can find out more about you and your network, all useful when they decide to exploit you.
End-to-end encryption
Do they encourage moving your interaction to a site with end-to-end encryption? This is a favourite move from a catfish as they can find out more of your personal information and by the nature of these accounts makes the content of interaction hidden and untraceable by the provider.
Faked interest
Are your conversations all about you? Don’t mistake this for positive attention. A catfish will try to keep you at the centre of all conversations. The more you talk about yourself the more you reveal. This way they find lots of information they can exploit. A catfish will keep their cards close to their chest and reveal very little about themselves.
Romance
Has the contact quickly evolved romantically? In most dating and romance scams the catfish will quickly establish a romantic element, all designed to facilitate control. So whilst the attention may seem nice be wary.
Camera avoidance
To protect their real identity, a catfish will make excuses to avoid live streaming of their image. They will use excuses such as their camera isn’t working or that their internet will not support live feed to prevent you seeing they are not a match to their profile picture. They also do this to prevent their image being included when making covert recordings of your chats. This is commonly used in cases of sextortion.
Protection
The practice of catfishing is more common than you’d think. There are some simple steps you can take to help prevent becoming a target:
- Manage your digital footprint- As described earlier, conduct an image search on your name. Then you can manage the information that’s already published on the internet. You can request for posts, photos and videos to be removed by the originator or by the platform.
- Check your privacy settings- each platform has a guide to their privacy settings and how to set / change them.
- Un-tag yourself from photos and ignore tag requests
- Be guarded and don’t share personal identifiable information in your profile (date of birth, location), posts, photographs or conversations.
- Avoid platforms that use end-to-end encryption.
- Don’t rush into relationships, move at your own pace. Recognise when your being asked to overshare with nothing shared in return.
- Be wary of a ‘sob story’. A catfish will reel you in with tales of woe in order to financially exploit you. Never transfer money or give anyone your bank / credit card details.
Taking action as described above will help protect you from catfishing but if you think you are being catfished take a screenshot of the fake account, mute, hide or unfollow it, then report it. Do not block the account until you have made the report.
If you’re being blackmailed do not pay. If under 18yrs report it to CEOP. Parents can also make a report to CEOP. If you are over 18yrs contact the police by calling 101 or in an emergency 999.
SSS Learning Safeguarding Director
