Catfish Chronicles

I love it when someone tries to catfish me, and I personally know the individual they are pretending to be. I have written about this catfish issue before in a post Have You Been Catfished? and Catfish Catfish Catfish.  Someone attempted to catfish me this morning on Instagram. It gives me such joy when I can tell them I know they are fake.

I got such a request this morning, though it wasn’t in the context of dating. I immediately was suspicious only because I was already connected to this person. Of course, I know there may be legitimate reasons someone may have more than one profile. Some people don’t mix their personal and professional lives, and have a separate profile for each. Other people who develop a side business may create a new profile solely for the business. But something didn’t feel right about this one. These imposters, like the person this morning, are really good at trying to replicate the original profile. They copy the main profile picture, and if the profile is open and isn’t private, they copy many of the images that are posted on the profile’s wall. They even use a very similar screen name. Like, if the original one is Science_Teacher, they make the fake profile Science-Teacher or ScienceTeacher_ or some variation of it.

That’s what this individual did this morning, and he tried to solicit me to invest in a business opportunity. I could tell he was fake, because his words and language skills were very unlike those of my friend. Not only have I know him for many years and interacted with him a lot online, but I have also hung out with him in person. So, I could tell it was a different person. Besides, I was already texting my friend about it to let him know someone was impersonating him. I was so hoping he was going to say, “Oh no, Will. That’s me. I have a second profile.” But he didn’t say that. He confirmed that it was indeed an impersonator. He reported the profile and asked me to do so as well.

Usually when I know they’re fake, I have fun with the con artist for a while, making them believe I’m interested in investing. I eventually do a 180 and tell them I know they are an imposter. I didn’t get that chance today though, because Instagram had disabled the account. When I do get the chance to tell them I know they are fake, people will either go away and stop responding or they immediately block me. A few of them try to keep up the ruse by trying to convince me that I’m mistaken and that they really are who they claim to be. I feel like singing, “You must not know about me.” I’ve become very proficient at recognizing the phonies.

These people have no conscience at all. Maybe it’s a waste of my time conversing with them like I do. I do the same thing when I get those Spam emails from people too. My thinking is, the time I spend chatting back and forth with them leading them to believe I’ll open my wallet is time they aren’t trying to trick someone else. Even if just one or two others are spared, then it’s worth it.

It’s astonishing to me the great lengths people go through to trick others and steal their money. Catfishing isn’t just for dating. Con artists can be a catfish too.