Catfishing and Manipulation

• So, has anyone ever been catfish before?
• And, if so did you know you where being catfished?

I wonder because I think there is a new form of catfishing where the person does not just ask for money. They use manipulation to gain their victim's trust and then ask for a favor later.

The process of using someone luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona

Questions

• Who are the catfishers conning?
• What are the signs?
• Why do people fall for catfishers?

The FBI says that 20,000 people will become catfished though statistics will say that men will fall for a catfish almost 25% of the time and men are approximately 43% of potential victims. Why? This is because they are more likly to fall for fake personas online. In 2019 due the pandimic and peoples loneliness and lack of social life about 19,473 of those where catfished and recently in 2020 about 23,768 of people where catfished the FBI said that most of the reports where romance and confidence scams.

This leads me to a question about somethign what about women especially those who are in relationships where they are not getting the attention they want or need? Not meaning to offend anyone with this question, but I want to know if there has been women who fall for a catfish because they want romance or attention. According everyday a child, teen, and adults is catfished in a 2019 report Facebook said that 5% of the monthly active acconts were false accounts most og them are harmless duplicated accounts but most of them are fake profiles in order to con people out of something.

"Impersonating someone else online is a form of cyberbullying. it is an intertional act that inflicts emotional harm on another person"

How can we tell if someone is being catfished?

1. They avoid face to face communication.
2. Their profile pictures never seem to change.
3. They can never video chat or talk on the phone.
4. They have a lot of "friends" of the opposite sex.
5. They are vague about their past and present.

There is also other signs such as if there is no pictures on the platform of the person is catfishing you. Than something odd is going on either they dont post a whole lot or they just started even though they say they are big on social media and wanted a private platform. Also, if they do allow you to video call them they will leave the video picture off and say that is for protection or something. though some will use these new apps out there that changes their voice and looks though it looks fake and does not match or line up. The vocie changer sounds wrong and messed up as well.

This infomation and more is from Catfishing and how it relates to Cyberbullying on the verywellfamily.com.

Now the question is why?

We have anywhere between three to five online platforms that we have a profile there is a chance that someone has looked at them and decide that they wanted to target us. Why?

1. We put way information online.
2. They notice the type of platforms we follow.
3. For fun.

Now some of you may say "why would anyone want to target me I am not well known." It does not matter if you are a well known celebrity or a avarage joe once a catfisher wants to target you they will do just that.

So in the end I want to raise tell people that there is more to catfishing than just a couple of guys being left hanging by girls who just want money. Women have been will be targeted as well since they can be targeted along with children though makes me wonder if the ones who target children should be classified as a child predator? Though should I do a article about this concept if you want me to talk about that idea let me know.