O.O Internet Catfishing

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BananaPie

Guest
#1
#1
The purpose of this thread is twofold:

a) to define what is an internet Catfish,
b) to keep newcomers informed of Catfish behavior


*** Important Side Note ***​
This thread is not for accusing others of trolling or catfishing. If you have evidence a CC member is trolling or catfishing, you must privately report the evidence of such individual to the Admin Team or Mods. Thank you for respecting the purpose of this thread.
*********​
CATFISH Definition

A Catfish is an online master deceiver; an internet predator who creates a false identity online for the purpose of seeking temporary romance with unsuspecting victims. A catfish can pose as a male or as a female.

Behavior Characteristics
The behavior of an internet catfish is called “Catfishing.”

A catfish creates phony profiles on social networks (Skype, Twitter, Linkedln, etc.) and phony profiles in online forums, chat rooms, blogs to trick people into thinking the catfish is that fabricated identity.

A catfish is a well-rehearsed online predator who has gathered stories, photos and practically has stolen other people’s real experiences posted online, and claims these as his/her own experiences. A catfish fabricates an identity around photographs, stories, employers and personalities readily found online to create the illusion that the catfish is being truthful about his/her identity.

A catfish comes across as a charming, friendly, respectable individual living in a community where the catfish is well known. The problem is that nobody knows the catfish in such community, and often that community is well outside the catfish’s IP address as well.


 
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BananaPie

Guest
#2
#2
O.O How to ID a Catfish

1. A catfish will promptly confess romantic interest, and promptly derail you away from this website, or CC chat rooms into Skype, G-chat, or whatever disposable cell phone number the catfish is baiting you with in order to obtain your phone contact.

A catfish will never give you a land-line phone number nor an actual home address because both should match the IP address. Remember: a catfish doesn’t want to be found.
**** A catfish “exists” only online. ****

2. A catfish is usually a bad speller and has poor English grammar regardless of all the schooling the catfish claims to have. Don’t believe the “I’m dyslexic” line a catfish says to curb the bad spelling. A catfish who seems to be a good speller, but has gross grammatical mistakes when speaking (ie. “Me says, them is lying to you"), then an internet grammar correct sites is likely being utilized to curb his lack of education.

3. A catfish leaves an online trail of former forums and websites visited as a way to further create the illusion of an establish identity, and sometimes he will point you to such websites.

4. A catfish welcomes email and audio means of communication, but will never use video Skype or webcam because the catfish is concealing his true identity and whereabouts.

Remember, a catfish is a well-rehearsed predator who “exists” only online. If during audio communication you never hear background noise (birds chirping, traffic, other people, ambulance or police siren, current news on TV, etc.), or you never get to actually chat with the catfish’s friends or family members in the catfish’s stories, then that’s a major Red Flag: you’ve been catfished!

5. A catfish is usually familiar with photoshop and will proudly share his crafty photoshop skills, yet a catfish will never share photos of him together with the people or the community in the catfish’s stories. A catfish is practically the ghost of the story.

6. A catfish never has photos of himself of former years because most likely the photo you know the catfish by is not him altogether. Remember, the catfish who is supposedly “in love with you” is deceiving you all along. It’s a premeditated affair. You’ll never know who’s the predator behind that computer screen!

7. A catfish is vague when you ask questions the catfish has not rehearsed. A catfish always wants time to access the internet while simultaneously chatting with you in order to lookup information to curb questions the catfish should know, but doesn’t.

8. A catfish, of course, claims to be wealthy and travels much abroad, but never seems to travel to meet you. The catfish will make plans to meet you, or plans to travel with you, but truth be told, the catfish will either suddenly cancel the plans, fabricate excuses, or suddenly cut-off all communication with you. Yes, the elusive Romeo will officially dump you when you least expect it! That’s part of the scam.

9. A catfish’s choice of employment is usually at a large corporation making it almost impossible for you to call him at work. Imaging calling the IRS and asking for Jim, or calling the USPS and asking for Bob, the supervisor.

Be wise. Think ahead. :)
 
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ServantStrike

Guest
#3
#3
I wonder if it's called cat fishing because cat fish are bottom feeders.

[video=youtube;hXnP5RX59AY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXnP5RX59AY[/video]

I had a song to tie in, and I did it!


That being said, wouldn't a dead giveaway for an internet catfish be someone who doesn't use a web cam (pretty much ever)? I mean, it's hard to fake video, although I suppose you could get someone else to make fake video and then use it, but that's a lot of work.

Maybe ask people to hold up a copy of a newspaper to verify the video is live (or at least on the same day). Like a hostage negotiation, but in chat.
 
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BananaPie

Guest
#5
#5
O.O How to Distinguish Romeo from Catfish

The purpose of this thread is to provide advice in safeguarding against catfishing.
Be wise. Don't be a victim! :)

1. Use common sense. Don’t “fall in love” with a mere voice on Skype.

2. Never give any personal information to anybody you’ve never met in person.

3. Everything a Catfish claims is a lie down to his name; therefore, verify the info with external sources not attached to the sites the catfish has lead you to. The actual Romeo will be known in the community, while the catfish “exists” only online.
 
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ServantStrike

Guest
#6
#6
Re: O.O How to Distinguish Romeo from Catfish

BananaPie said:
The purpose of this thread is the provide advice in safeguarding against catfishing.
Be wise. Don't be a victim! :)

1. Use common sense. Don’t “fall in love” with a mere voice on Skype.
2. Never give any personal information to anybody you’ve never met in person.
3. Everything a Catfish claims is a lie down to his name; therefore, verify the info with external sources not attached to the sites the catfish has lead you to. The actual Romeo will be known in the community, while the catfish “exists” only online.
Click to expand...

Some of this seems a bit... dangerous though.

Like, I'm not going to give someone my friends' contact information until after I've met them etc, who does that? You can check as many references as you want, you're not gonna find me unless I meet you in a well lit place first.


After all, I don't want to get murdered in my sleep by a catfish!
 
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BananaPie

Guest
#7
#7
Re: O.O How to Distinguish Romeo from Catfish

Don't fall for this guy! He aint got not face!
 

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1still_waters

Guest
#8
#8
Re: O.O How to Distinguish Romeo from Catfish

BananaPie said:
The purpose of this thread is the provide advice in safeguarding against catfishing.
Be wise. Don't be a victim! :)

1. Use common sense. Don’t “fall in love” with a mere voice on Skype.
2. Never give any personal information to anybody you’ve never met in person.
3. Everything a Catfish claims is a lie down to his name; therefore, verify the info with external sources not attached to the sites the catfish has lead you to. The actual Romeo will be known in the community, while the catfish “exists” only online.
Click to expand...
Two and three seem contradictory.
If you're not to give personal information to someone you haven't met, then how can you verify things in the community to which said catfish belongs.

I mean if a catfish followed 2, then there would be no way for someone to do number 3 on the catfish.
 
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ww_21

Guest
#9
#9
Useful information here. Also, people may want to take a look at the movie and tv show entitled "Catfish." It's based on real life experiences with cat fishing.
 
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BananaPie

Guest
#10
#10
Re: O.O How to Distinguish Romeo from Catfish

1still_waters said:
I mean if a catfish followed 2, then there would be no way for someone to do number 3 on the catfish.
Click to expand...
I believe what the author meant is that once you begin to verify if the person's story is true, then you know he can be a potential Romeo.

If you begin to inquire, for example, at the catfish's church and nobody knows his name, then you know...

It's a Ghost! Aint nobody got time for that! :rolleyes:
 
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djness

Guest
#11
#11
I don't blame CC at all for this, it is just the only chat room I have ever been to.
I had never been to a chat room before cc, I was totally unaware that people actually did these things.
Not that I did not know that people lied but that people could hide themselves. In the real world you can't do that if you are face to face. I have met several of these catfish on here though. I'm sure they happen in the form of guys but in my experience they have always been women.
#4 on your list is the biggest tell tale in my opinion. It's virtually impossible for anyone to be able to get online and not have a webcam. People in Liberia have webcams...

If you are even remotely interested in someone and they say there is some reason or another why you cannot hear them or see them, then get on with you life. They aren't worth your time.

I wish i had known that before, fortunately I didn't get to badly burned.
 
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Animus

Guest
#12
#12
I've always thought it would be neat if someone reverse catfish'd someone. Usually the victim falls in love with the catfish and then finds out they are not as much of a catch as the seemed. But what if they created a fake identity that was worse than themselves, using uglier pictures, worse job, poor etc.. Then, if for some odd reason you actually meet them (as they do in the show) you find out that they are actually not at all what you thought (catfish component) but instead are way better (the reverse catfish).
 
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1still_waters

Guest
#13
#13
djness said:
I don't blame CC at all for this, it is just the only chat room I have ever been to.
I had never been to a chat room before cc, I was totally unaware that people actually did these things.
Not that I did not know that people lied but that people could hide themselves. In the real world you can't do that if you are face to face. I have met several of these catfish on here though. I'm sure they happen in the form of guys but in my experience they have always been women.
#4 on your list is the biggest tell tale in my opinion. It's virtually impossible for anyone to be able to get online and not have a webcam. People in Liberia have webcams...

If you are even remotely interested in someone and they say there is some reason or another why you cannot hear them or see them, then get on with you life. They aren't worth your time.

I wish i had known that before, fortunately I didn't get to badly burned.
Click to expand...


That about sums it up in my book.
Red flag numero uno.
If they won't pass the get on webcam test..eh...

yeah..
 
Grace-Like-Rain

Grace-Like-Rain

Senior Member
#14
Sep 6, 2013
4,430
117
63
#14
I actually DON'T have a webcam on this computer. :p

Number 1 red flag for me is asking for my contact info when you don't even know me.
 
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BananaPie

Guest
#15
#15
Don't fall for this chick! She aint got no face!

 
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BananaPie

Guest
#16
#16
Grace-Like-Rain said:
I actually DON'T have a webcam on this computer. :p
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Yeah, but you'd be easily verifiable by those in your community. Daycare, church, customers, photos from trips you've made with others, etc.

The idea is that real people have real histories that can be easily verified, whereas a catfish only "exists" in the stories the catfish tells with online photos of other real people, never his own photos.
 
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just_monicat

Senior Member
#17
Jan 1, 2014
1,284
17
0
#17
is there a way to avoid the random pms from strangers (in the settings)?
 
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BananaPie

Guest
#18
#18
Yes, at the right, top corner, click on "Setting."

Then on left of page under "My Account," click on "General Setting" and you'll be able to turn-off PM on that page.
 
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