Let’s delve into the scary world of online dating, shall we? As if you didn’t have enough to worry about what with kids going out with the wrong sort at school, they’re now going off and finding people to mate with on the internet. Complete strangers that they know nothing about who are probably not even who they say they are. And that’s exactly what catfishing is. Lying about who you are to your online romantic partner.
Online dating is probably as old as the internet itself. And so is this phenomenon of pretending to be someone you’re not online just to woo a romantic interest. But then this guy went ahead and made a movie about it and now have a name for the thing. Catfishing. The person lying is the catfish. The person being lied to is the catfished. Clear and simple.
Here is Nev Schulman talking about his experience in his own words (apparently he has his own show now, too):
What Happens in a Catfishing Situation?
In the simplest of words, the catfish is pretending to be something they are not. They could be
- Using an alias
- Using someone else’s picture
- Using someone else’s persona
- Using an imagined online persona
A catfish will almost always use someone else’s picture. They’ll obviously choose someone attractive and build a glamorous bio around it. Most catfish list modelling as a career, say they are a lot richer than they actually are and build up stories about their luxurious escapades to attract their online interest. Others might have a heartfelt story that the person on the other side of the computer screen is bound to fall for.
Can Catfishing be Harmful?
Yes, because literally, anyone could be talking to your child. They could be as old as 50 or as underaged as 12. And your kid will never know. If there is anything Nev’s TV show has taught us, it’s that even adults can be a victim of catfishing. So can you imagine how your kids, with their lack of experience and weak judgment and fantasies of romance will make the easiest targets?
It is also bad because many a catfish would have these amazing sad tales about the hardships in their lives as a tactic to get money out of their victims.
There is a possibility that the catfish is also a predator. Sean Patrick Banks is a serial rapists who used an alias on ChristianMingle.com so he could lure in women.
Another study has shown that nearly 30% teenagers go onto arrange real life meet-ups with their online friends or romantic partners. They can have no real idea of what they’re walking into, even if they’ve gone through their Facebook profiles for a validity check. Even Facebook admits that millions of profiles on their website are fake.
How Can You Tell Your Kid is Being Catfished?
To make sure your kid is not a part of an online dating scam, you can do some of these things:
- Do a Google Image search of their profile picture. If the picture revert to someplace else, this should be one of your red flags.
- Search their email address on the internet, including Facebook. This guide lets you know of the all the online people search methods.
- If they are models who live a fancy life and live conveniently close to your child, they’re probably a catfish, too.
- If they don’t want to talk on the phone or on Skype etc., they are most definitely lying about who they are.
Reporting a catfish before things get too out of hand is probably the right thing to do.
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