Do people still get catfished?

Question

Yea, I'm not talking about fishing here. I've become almost paranoid whenever I meet someone attractive online and I always do a reversed image search if they're "suspiciously" attractive. Most people trying to catfish can be detected pretty easily, at least in my experience. I don't have any experience with female catfish, though. I don't know if they're more clever about it.  I'd like to hear if you've had any experiences with catfish. Do you get suspicions about attractive people online? If you suspect that someone is indeed trying to catfish you, how do you try to find out if they're lying about who they are? And if you found out that someone isn't who they claim to be, how would you react? I might have just been watching too much Catfish. 😂

MementoMori_ · Accepted Answer

I sort of got catfished once. I met a girl online that I assumed was fake from the start because she was too incredibly beautiful to be true. But I played along for a while just in case and just for fun. After chatting online for about a week, I decided to give it the test and asked her to Skype. To my amazement, she did and she was real! I could not believe it.

We talked online and texted for a month or so after that and then decided to meet. I drove around 200 miles to meet her and even though I can't stand vegetarian food, made a reservation at a vegan restaurant in her town since she is a vegan. Even made some special arrangements to surprise her there. Brought the bouquet of flowers, the whole 9 yards.

Long story short SHE DIDN'T SHOW! I called and called and no answer. So here I was in a strange place at night, hundreds of miles away and stood up! Needless to say I was not very happy.

Cut to the chase...

I drove home... took all night. Next day I started calling her and leaving messages... not angry messages, but just asking her what happened. I just couldn't figure it out. No reply until around a week later after and maybe 10 messages. (I was about to give up because I am not a stalker). But the curiosity was KILLING me. Yes, I was still kind of pissed, but more curious than pissed.

FINALLY... she sends me a text apologizing and said she just got cold feet! WAAAAAAAAAAA? Made zero sense to me that she would do that, but okay, at least she responded. Long story short, she was in the middle of a move... and moving much closer to where I live. We arranged to meet again and dated for about 5 months. I still don't believe the story of what happened that first time, but I grew to like her a lot and don't believe that she intentionally tried to hurt me that day. I don't date her anymore, but we still stay in touch.

That's my weird catfish story.

AaronTupaz · Accepted Answer

My only experience actually getting tricked by a catfish was a hot girl pretending to be just an average looking girl. My first suspicious was she gave me a phone number with an area code that was from 2-3 cities away from where I lived and where she claimed to live. But it turns out she used an app to mask her real number. Normally I will ask for a girl's social media before a date to verify if she's real, and it get more natural photos of her, as people often just post the best angles of themselves. We texted we great chemistry for a good 3 hours before she confessed she was catfishing. I was a bit upset, but when she showed me her real photos, but I forgave her. Ended up having 2 great dates with her.

lumos · Accepted Answer

I thin I've talked about this on here before, but basically I got catfished when I was 16. A friend of mine found a few guys online somehow and talked to them quite a lot on Skype, and I ended up joining in on their calls. Then I started talking to one of them separately. He would always send tons of pics but would never want to use a webcam, always coming up with some excuse. Too many red flags started piling up (not just the webcam thing but he just said and did a lot of things that didn't really add up) and I ended up doing a loooot of digging on him. Like the kind of digging where I dug up random youtube videos with barely a hundred views on them to find some clues. Found the real guy on facebook after someone literally mumbled his name on some random gaming video with barely any views.
Told the real guy someone was pretending to be him (poor guy), and then told the catfish to fuck off and that I know all about his scam. He called me all the horrible names in the book and then pretended to kill himself. Lol. The whole thing was so absurd and it definitely made me 345873 times more aware of who I talk to online, despite the fact that I was already careful to begin with.
Although I was slightly traumatized by the whole thing (lmao) I came out of it amazed by my detective skillz. Like I said, I was only 16 at the time so I felt streetsmart as fuck for diving into the deep corners of the internet to unveil this random dude's web of lies.

xlilyrx · Accepted Answer

People certainly still get catfished. I think reverse image searching is smart, but of course not always the most affective. Catfishing exists in many forms, the most popular being fake photos, but what about fake info?
My now fiance and I met on Kik. We grew very close and began video chatting, but after a month of talking daily, he told me he had a secret. He was much older than he initially said he was. His explanation made sense, although I was not happy with his lie, it made sense that he wouldn't want to tell an 18 year old that he was 34. This is where I gained my insight, something Max and Nev couldn't tell me.
Most people catfish because they fear how others may react to their reality, whether it be looks, weight, age, occupation, location, etc. Look for warning signs like changes in story or avoidance. For example, my fiancé (then boyfriend), before coming clean told me he was 25, but he would often ask me if I would still love him if he was older. That was a red flag. I also noticed slip ups when he one time told me about something he saw as a kid that happened in the 80s when at 25, he would have been born in '92.
Keep these things in mind and you will never be a victim.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

catfishing happens all the time
Is this considered catfishing?
Like when I started with this app, I really wanted help for stuff that I can't talk about with anyone around me
So I choosed a fake name and any age and changed a few little details, no pic
if anyone around me came on this app that they wouldn't walk over my acc (yes super paranoid about the Internet)
Then to my bad I met someone here, he isn't fake, already immediately Google searched him and all, and well I told him my real name, he didn't asked about my age so it's kind of still open

ps: you get the reason why I post this anonymous? yeah I know sorry

Fitness-Fanatic · Accepted Answer

No one online is 100% honest about themselves . If they are , they are naive fools lol

I've never been catfished , coz I don't get close to people online. I don't trust anyone I haven't met in person. I don't reveal true personal info about myself to anyone online.

I'm intuitive and perceptive , so I'm capable of playing the fool to fool the fool who's trying to fool me 😜

Maxine_Payne · Answer

Yes, I believe people still get catfished but fortunately, this hasn't happened to me before. Also, I'm pretty cautious when it comes to meeting people whom I've met online.

In answer to your questions:
Do you get suspicions about attractive people online?
Yes, although my current guy, whom I met online, is very attractive (to me) and he's the real deal!

If you suspect that someone is indeed trying to catfish you, how do you try to find out if they're lying about who they are?
I usually do a reverse image search when someone I'm talking to online sends me a picture of themselves.

And if you found out that someone isn't who they claim to be, how would you react?
I would be glad that I found out right now rather than later, and I'd not talk to that person anymore because I don't wanna be associated with a liar or someone who can't be true to themselves.

whattothink · Answer

I don't know if it was catfishing per se, but I did spend like 5 months dating this dude 3 hours away I met on a dating site. Took us three months to meet and then when he started getting weird (I just chalked it up to his seemingly social awkwardness) he put on fb, he was ina relationship with a girl that lived near him. Based on the comments they had been together even longer than he and I had been together.
So not only did he cheat on this poor girl with me, but I really don't even know if I even knew who he was, based on many inconsistencies that kept popping up.
I personally think he was whoever he thought the girl wanted him to be just to string them along, and I have a feeling I was not the only one. Smh.

Bleh-___- · Answer

Yeah of course. Most overly attractive females (especially those who show odd behavior, such as being very sexual or always bringing everyone's attention to their appearance) are catfish, and a quick reverse image search can usually confirm that. I don't think I've ever been catfished but I've catfished out of boredom a couple of times in my life.

itsaniaks · Answer

Though there is much awareness by now, people still get catfished now. You chat or meet people online for a reason that is, to build friendship or more than that. The Plus point of meeting people online is you get a broad range of personality. But this is its con too. Some of these personality may be just made for you by a person. Most of the time people are alert but with increase in awareness has made catfish clever too.
I've encountered one female catfish. She was from my college only. She pretended to be someone another. Luckily the place she told where she lived was my birth place. I took the chance of getting to know more about her and I finally caught her. The reaction I had after knowing her was pretty hilarious. She was my classmate and we had a group project to do. During the submission section I put her name which she provided in the chat. Her face was red with embarrassment. Haha red catfish

ATuairiscean · Answer

Good question - Again like you I am speaking from personal experience and think I can spot a catfish early thus assume everyone else can - I am more at the stage of a personality catfish they are who they say they are but maybe not being totally true to the impression they are giving though that might be true of all people but just more pronounced online when they portray themselves as something then over time slip back to their true nature with some people it is more of a shock than with others. On the flip side I often find myself going I want to know the true you not the online persona that you have created and it throws people off.

JohnDoe3000 · Answer

I don't do online dating, so I don't know how it is on there. But on Tinder I've found the catfish/bots are easy to spot, there's just something off about them, and yes, often they're way too attractive, or at least what they think the average guy would find very attractive. I suppose they could in theory fool me if they stole pictures from the girl next door's facebook, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm not scared of it either: the worst thing that could happen is that I waste a few minutes a day for a week chatting to them and then the gig is up since we'd either meet or they'd make up some BS excuse and I'd drop them.

Robsinsf53 · Answer

Shit you're funny! I wish I wouldn't never watched that one episode. It is a white dude and he finds out he's been texting with a tranny. I wasn't even thinking about some perverted misinformed... not only is this very dangerous, but what's the point? You're getting off at someone else's expense? You know? I was texting with a photograph, lol. "She"asked me to see my latest photo. I snapped a picture with the date on my hand in pen. I asked for same only I said give the camera the birdie! What do ya think? Never again!!😂😂

GoodGuyBreakingBad · Answer

Yeah, i have ran across many people whose tried to Catfish me
the thing i did is use google search and www.pipl.com search
I've found few who were Catfishing me. I also recommend using
www.spokeo.com to search and that works well too.

bloodmountain1990 · Answer

Oh yeah. Happens all the time and I don't see it stopping any time soon.

There's different kinds. Usually the kinda cat fishing I've dealt with is people lying about their weight and I've had some lie about their height.

I still don't get people who do this. If you plan on meeting someone, you won't be able to hide it.

I mean no one should be shamed for their appearance but no one should be shamed for not being attracted to someone either, especially when the person was blatantly misleading.

OrdinaryGentleman · Answer

I have played both roles of catfish and catfishee.
I think people get too up in arms about something that's completely normal, they place too much emphasis on online interactions as being a real world. You go up to anyone and begin talking to them; usually within the first few times of meeting each other, they will lie. It's normal human behavior to lie as we are most often afraid of other's seeing our true selves.
I do find that the people who feel oh so vindicated when they find out about another person being a catfish are most often liars themselves. Someone who goes out of their way to shame others for messing up are the ones most often screwing up as well. When i find out someone is a catfish i frankly don't care, I don't have expectations of others because i understand other people are very much unlike myself.
Phew... longest response in awhile.

TuMeManques · Answer

I'll be honest here, I always assume everyone I initially talk to is a catfish of some kind. Not that I'm all that and people want to get me to fall for them or anything but more that I think many people get online and try to be someone they're not simply because they can. Therefore I'm always wary.
I've dealt with a female (I think) catfish before and 1 male who I actually met in person although I'm still not sure what the truth is about him.

yahfromaz · Answer

lol... I have had many experiences with scammers and catfish... mostly scammers though. scammers online are usually from another state (50%) or from Nigeria (45%) or any other country (5%). The unusual similarity between most scammers is the use of the word 'dear'. The common thread is usually there is some drama in their life that could be solved by some amount of $. One 'woman' I conversed with tried to get me to western union her $400 so that she could 'buy an airline ticket' to come to the states to see me. Of course she also had some 'problem' with her passport... These scammers have less than no heart. As for catfish... I actually met one in person and yikes. How does a person feel ok about deception like that. (that question applies to both catfish and scammers) It's like they have no souls

Skullcap · Answer

I prefer meeting face to face in public then online but I don't trust anyone online that I'd first meet because you never know who or what you are talking with because it's easy to fall into a trap and pretty much get screwed over by some creep on the internet pretending to be someone they're not. The internet isn't very safe and all I can say is on the internet it is pretty much a gamble and there can be good people and bad people can't trust anyone online it is never good to trust people who you don't know on the internet

KateSkellington · Answer

I don't know how people get catfished these days. People are always warning people about the dangers of the internet and social media and the MTV show Catfish also really helps how to find out the truth. With so many people warning you, how can you still fall for it? The catfish must be really good.

Anonymous · Answer

I've been receiving a booty call one night, online in a chat app. we exchanges some photos, phone number. It was a young hot black girl. I thought I really got lucky. It was near 11 pm already, I took a quick shower and caught a cab. Drove me to the address (the other side of the city). Then it turned out that someone wanted to prank a girl. I called up at the gate but the girl who answered had no idea what I was doing there. I tried calling the number I received but no reaponse. I waited like 30 minutes if someone shows up, then took a bus back home. Learned a lesson, I guess.

Powertool · Answer

I am always on the prowl to harpoon me some catfish. Their profiles are honestly flawless in pictures or how they are better than a saint.
Now certain sites will encourage their users to get professional pictures taken, IE mail-order bride sites. So even though i can barely understand the chopped English half ukrainian words they use, the overall way the profile comes across, even with a beautiful profile image, i trust it.
It sounds lame but their is a psychology to dating... and especially dating online. So think of the entire image this person is trying to put across with their description and likes, dislikes... take everything into account.
Most sites have a FAQ, info, customer support page where they give a list of things to do and not do in this situation. They will be much more helpful.

-Adue

ShyAnon · Answer

I feel like people still get catfished but not long enough for them to fall in love with them or talk to them for years and never see them like it is on the tv show.

Personally I feel like anyone investing that much time to someone online when its sooo easy to see if they are lying, then they kind of want to be catfished.

Levin · Answer

Never found it an issue. Most people use obviously fake perfect pictures. Or when you prod a little deeper, they just get distant. I reckon that often people who are victims to catfish are kind of vulnerable to it, and want to believe it.

And just to set your mind at ease, I'm not a catfish ;) I'm all real, baby.

Hans222 · Answer

We all have had our catfish experiences on here :o
Although I'm convinced most people are real, but there have been stories of people who've had more than 5 catfish accounts over the years 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
The last time I talked to a catfish (discovering it later) is almost 3 years back.
I know the admin team are doing checks on multiple accounts from 1 ip address, and similar checks, to make catfish accounts difficult.

Brokenheartedx · Answer

Yes by an ex lol 4 times n the last time before I ended up just shutting the whole account down was to brag about his life because if he had to tell me without catfishing me i would have said who cares and blocked the mutant...

That was months ago not been back since.,. unsure if I'm traumatised or flattered to the effort he put in but either way the guys a total plamf

BeardBurner · Answer

"female" catfish are usually men too Im afraid. if they are super hot, reverse image search. they also talk about money and debt within the first conversation. they are fairly obvious trolls that can be spotted quite quickly if you are not too gullible.

Androdead · Answer

I'm on lot of dating apps, and the more you need to pay to make things, the more you got catfish by the admin of the apps to make you believe it works and, of course to answer you need to pay.
When it's not this way, I generally use one of their photo to try and locate where it's, and ask them about it.

guy42069 · Answer

My friend got sort of catfished once. The girl he was talking to was the girl's boyfriend part of the time and the actual girl part of the time. They were trying to trick him into going somewhere random by himself or whatever as a prank. He figured it out real quick though. He got mad at them and it was pretty shitty of them too.

LolaB13 · Answer

Um I haven't been catfished per se but one guy did tell me that he was muscular but his gut was bigger than the rest of his body. 😂😂 The only thing I can say about the guy I'm kinda sorta seeing is that he looks slightly different from his pictures but not that much. Most of the pictures on his profiles are older.

ImHere4You · Answer

Yes people get catfished. It only happened to me once. One girl asked me to take a live selfie holding two fingers up. Until you see them live you will never know. Someone might say they're a guy in their 20s but it could be his father or someone else in their 60s. Just examples. Until you Skype or meet in person you'll never know. Don't get paranoid because there are good people who tell nothing but the truth. If they lie to me it's time to move on.

InfoBot · Answer

Oh they definitely still try, that's for sure. Most of them fail miserable because they are a bit stupid. They rely on you not asking questions and they hide behind mock offence if you insist that they verify who they are.

The internet is riddled with catfish, they're all over the place.

The_Underground_Man · Answer

I just automatically assume that anyone attractive online is either a catfish, fraud, or has serious issues because no genuinely attractive person and especially female needs the internet. This is especially true for dating websites. Beautiful women get approached so often that the thought of them having to resort to a dating website is very suspicious.

catj9999 · Answer

I spoke to a guy on tinder and his picture I swear I'd seen it before but couldn't remember (he only had 1 picture) so I spoke to him and added him on sc and he wouldn't send a picture there was always an excuse and he did eventually send one and he looked nothing like he did on his tinder profile 😂😂

cattertone · Answer

most "female" catfish are spam bots or scammers promoting sexy cam girl websites that steal your credit card info by offering you to watch for free and the credit card info is age verification, but they're easy to detect because the bots don't respond like humans.
I've come across some human ones, I have no problem insulting them and making them feel horrible, especially after talking to one for 3 hours before she tried to rope me into a scam show.

Likes2drive · Answer

Yeah they do it more often to guys, I'm always suspicious when it's an attractive woman that likes me, lol I check to see if they even viewed my profile and ask where they are, their grammar is bad at times too, if they talk to me awhile and act like they like me I ask if they want to video chat, that usually scares them off or they pretend the camera is broken

WhereAmI · Answer

The reverse image search doesn't always work as the profile pics can be from a website that doesn't allow search bots on t he site for privacy. A lot of it can be based off experience and asking the right questions. I used to play with scammers impersonating Russian women to see how far they'd go before I called them out on it.

Lancaster4201 · Answer

Oh it still happens. For guys it's a combination of gay guys looking for nudes, cam girls, trolls, etc.

I feel like it happens a lot more to guys than girls, but girls get flooded with guys. Different sides of the same internet coin.

MickyMaus · Answer

Hell yes, but they catfish you another way. They make you think you have a legit relationship. then they start asking for money because they have financial troubles, or legal troubles. it's all bs

pudgen · Answer

Yes i do catfish sometimes people think they are Clever but if someone using images from Instagram, twitter reverse search won't work as they restrict google from track their users so technically if someone one using images from Instagram it is impossible to find...

lordpokerface · Answer

Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't trust anyone online. I always do a reverse Google image search whenever they send me a pic of "themselves". I have no idea how in this day and age they think this is a good idea!

NatashaJ · Answer

Watch catfish the tv show catfishes are getting smarter if you want to believe if someone is real just have a webcam conversation. If they don't talk during it or it feels prerecorded then don't date them.

it_lord · Answer

Nowadays, Facebook doesn't allow people to have fake profiles so catfishing became hard. I have been online ever since the early 00's and have met only geniune people but some people may ask for money or favors right away. Those are the ones you should watch out for. :-)

Mfhassan · Answer

a friend of mine had a crush over a girl we seen in neighborhood. he had no courage to go to her. so I suggested finding her on Facebook. after a while he found her on Facebook and they started chatting. their friendship escalated to love story level. but after a while I got tired and had to deactivate the Facebook account 😂😂😂😂😂

fabulouspancakes · Answer

Oh yeah. People are more aware now so more likely to do a reverse image search or ask for Skype before agreeing to meet someone or spending too much time chatting with them. However, it still happens, especially to older people.

MaiNameIsSunshine · Answer

I mean, Nev got catfished again somehow lmao. But people just want to hold on to a very romanticized idea of a person because they don't want to face the reality of the situation.

bingbaddaboom · Answer

It's just derived from insecurities. If you can't be honest with yourself, you'll never be honest with others.

And yes-- catfishing will probably continue to happen for as long as you and I have a breath of life in this world.

TasDevil · Answer

no idea what catfish is but I guess if you are sus on someone ask them to send you a pic of themselves with some kind of newspaper article in the pic or something similar

Hades77 · Answer

I witnessed some guys online being catfished, reversed searched some emo girl and found the original. Also had a friend who catfished this guy. He was also a dude, then it took a crazy turn and they ended up in a relationship.

girlinthisworld · Answer

Anyone with a basic level of intelligence wouldn't get catfished in this day and age. Video calls and even phone calls are there to stop this. All you have to do is watch one episode of Catfish and you're sorted.

BoomMan · Answer

From my experience 3/4 of girls I went on dates with used old photos where they looked better. Not cool. Now I try to only go on dates where all the photos match up so I know what expect.
Although I've also been on dates with girls who looked way better than their photos.

Anonymous · Answer

Most certainly, I only get suspicious when they’re overly sexual/have bad spelling. If you feel like you’re being catfished hit em with the “FaceTime?” Or “you got Snapchat?” That scares them off lmao

xXSaturnXx · Answer

Of course, catfishing will always be a thing since you don't know who someone is online, like for example I could be some old hairy dude, I'm not but it's an example because nobody knows who I am

SrsUnicorn · Answer

Yes, happened to a friend of mine on FB just last week. Talked to this guy for months looked like a tattoo model... wasn't him, some old fat guy. 😞🤷🏻‍♀️

uradorito_ · Answer

My "best friend" did it to me pretending to be a dude. yes it does, but there are ways to prevent it. if they always have a convient excuse of why they can't face time or send you selfies, RUN!

momo770 · Answer

I don't know if I have, I do get attached to people online, but it's over a long period of time and I've actually met some of my internet friends. You?

danadanadana · Answer

There are people who will still be naive enough to get catfished. I have catfished in the past, I will admit. But only to people I knew who had screwed me around.

joedoejam · Answer

girls online are the "leftovers" - women should have no issue finding guys offline. online girls are either ugly or crazy.

Mexicoman101 · Answer

That totally still happens, I think it always will. You need to be able to tell the difference but a lot of people are too ignorant about the red flags to do so.

Tanisha69 · Answer

Anyone who pretends to be something their not online has got issues in my opinion. They should seek out pro help. Not to offend anyone, but I think thats a sign of being mentally defective. Just be yourself.

neversaynotopanda · Answer

Smart girl!  I think it happens because people either won't go through the trouble or don't really want to know.  Like you said, a simple Google Search is enough to expose 99% of them. 😉

Paris13 · Answer

As an Online Advocate for Catfish Here, dear, I have Done, Hun... My own Homework. I never let a No Catch of the Day get in my Way. Good Luck. xx

jammy85 · Answer

I've had photos stolen and used to catfish so many times. Its not a nice feeling

Tricialicious · Answer

One guy was using Shawn Mendes to catfish people 😂 I called him out and he blocked me. People still do it... I don't think it will ever stop.

Streamhopper · Answer

Of course it still happens. It always will. That's just human nature. Which is really too bad, cause it messes things up for the rest of us.

bellagsully · Answer

I think a guy on her may be catfishing me lol it's a little suspicious

Do people still get catfished?

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