What is Catfishing Online? Understanding, Signs, & Preventative Measures
Catfishing is when someone pretends to be you or makes your fake ID online. It is also another tricky way to believe that you are in a real online friendship or romance with them. As you trust them, the catfish online process starts harming, blackmailing, or defaming you in many ways. The real catfishing meaning is to reveal your secrets, humiliate them, and make you upset by using your secret material. Sometimes, people also experience this situation when sending money online to fraudsters. It can also be included in pressuring you to share your nudes online, sextortion, or stealing your identity to use the personal information that you use with them during the chat. Let’s discuss this entire topic in brief detail.
Steps Included in Catfishing Scams
Here are some of the important steps where you should pay attention while considering catfishing:
- The catfish always starts preying on you with the fake account.
- They try their best to believe you are in a real friendship or online relationship.
- However, the catfish use the original data of someone, like pictures or videos, to gain your trust.
- It includes creating a fake background story, photos, schools, jobs, and friends.
- Mostly, catfish pretend to be very famous, handsome, and have a reputable identity in society.
- After talking to them, you feel excited and overwhelmed when they show interest in you.
- Also, they can act as ordinary people and show the same interest in hobbies as you to get your attention.
- Sometimes, hackers use someone’s real image and complete identity to catch your attention for a relationship. So, do you think they are the perfect match for you? Right, they do so.
Other Facts
Scamrs or catfish use someone’s identity, so you believe in them, but do you trust them? Yes, 23% of people get catfished in early 2024. The reason is that scammers provide authentic excuses for not having a video call, saying their camera is broken or they are outside. Also, sometimes they make excuses they are soldier, so they have to keep their face hidden due to their mission. Sometimes, receiving bundles of compliments, affection, or maybe gifts makes you believe they are real and care about you. You attract them when they make you feel happy and good about yourself. Any person can get catfished regardless of their gender.
Signs You Are Getting Catfished
Suppose you are searching “what is Catfishing online” now, you have a list of signs or steps they follow. When you start trusting them, they start asking you some questions about yourself like your secrets, date of birth, home address, and family details. Sometimes they also ask for a favor, lend money, or ask for gifts. The catfishing scams also include asking for gaming credits, etc.
Warning Signs of Catfishing Online
You must be thinking, if catfishing is illegal, then why do people do this, right? The reason for such attempts is to gain your personal information and use it for the wrong purpose. Here are some of the warning signs of online scams. These signs can keep you safe from catfishing online:
Are They Really in The Photos?
You can search for their photos on Google or other social media platforms to check if their pictures are real or not. If you find these pictures with someone’s other names, then block them right away.
Check Their Social Media Appearance
However, the low friend count, fewer posts on their feeds, and not having any tagged photos on their social media is a clear sign they are fake. You can check their other social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Discord if they have these accounts. Checking on their friends can also help you to know if they are real or fake.
Are They Too Nice To You?
Are you getting a lot of compliments from them? Stop getting impressed by them right away because it is the easiest way to trap you. Extraordinary compliments, affection, and attention can be risky for you.
Do They Want to Know All About You?
Many catfish find the digital footprint that defines everything about you that you share on your social media or elsewhere online. It can be your favorite places, singers, foods, etc, these things make them like these materials to pretend they are just like you.
Important Preventative Measures
You can adjust the privacy settings of your social media accounts and try to control the sharing materials that contain your information. Follow the complete safety guides to keep yourself safe from getting catfished. Always ensure to hide your personal information, like phone numbers, email addresses, and family pictures. Every social media account (Snapchat, TikTok, Discord, WhatsApp, or more) has different privacy settings, so try to follow each privacy setting accordingly.