HOW TO CATCH A CATFISH
Dear Cameron, I’ve been catfished on dating apps more times than I’d like to admit. I’m sick of wasting my time (and sending private nudes!) to fake profiles. And I always realise that I’m chatting with a catfish way too late in the process. How can I spot a catfish earlier?
You’re not the first man to fall victim to catfishing, nor will you be the last. Catfishing, the practice of creating a fake online identity, often using other people’s images and information, is all too common on dating apps.
The psychology of catfishing suggests it’s the result of feeling dejected, rejected and ignored by men online. Hence, creating a fake “dream guy” is a way to attract attention. It’s quite sad, and some catfish take their false IDs to extremes with pretty sophisticated tactics.
While the following suggestions for spotting catfish are by no means foolproof, these are some common catfish tell-tale signs to watch out for, along with some of the ways you can get someone to verify that they’re who they say they are.
YOU MAY HAVE A CATFISH ON YOUR HANDS IF...
They ask for your nudes way too quickly. Newsflash: regular people with regular lives are usually pretty cautious about sharing their nudes on the internet or via apps. If a user asks for your nudes straight away and sends you eight hole pics and three bareback fuck pics with his face displayed clearly in every photo, that’s a big red flag.
They only have low-quality photos and videos. Do their photos look like they were taken in 1999? Buyer beware. Grainy pics and videos have usually been ripped from someone else’s social media accounts and republished.
Their pics are all square format.
Real people take photos in portrait and landscape modes on their smartphones. If someone’s pics are all square format, it could indicate that they’ve been ripped straight from someone else’s Instagram account.
Their pics have a watermark from another dating app.
If you’re chatting with someone on Grindr and his pics have a Scruff watermark on them, back away from that catfish asap. The pics they’re sending you have likely been stolen from someone else’s dating profile. Real people don’t use screenshots of their Scruff pics on other dating profiles. This is just some lazy-ass catfishing, to be honest.
They ask you for money.
WTF! Do not give money to anyone who you’ve only interacted with online or via an app. Ever! Even if financial domination is one of your kinks, you should still confirm that your financial dominator is not a catfish before you agree to send cash their way.
HOW TO VERIFY THAT SOMEONE IS REAL…
Run his photos through a reverse Google Search.
Do his pictures look too good to be true?
Google’s reverse image search can tell you if those pictures exist anywhere else on the internet. If they do, and they’re not him, then you’ve caught yourself a catfish.
How to do it: open a Google search window. In the top right-hand corner hit Images. Then, inside the search field in the middle of the page, hit the camera icon. Then drag the picture you want to check into the search field. Hit “search by image” and see what comes up.
Ask for his Instagram.
It’s harder to create a fake identity and lie about your appearance on Instagram. Catfish red flags on Instagram include:
Newly created Instagram accounts.
If the account is brand new and has only a handful of photos on it, that’s weird.
A suspicious “Follower to Following” ratio. Be wary of an Instagrammer who is following thousands of people with only hundreds of followers himself.
No comments on his Insta pics.
Real people have real friends commenting and liking their posts. If there are no comments to be found, your catfish suspicions may be warranted.
Request a few disappearing videos.
Grindr, Snapchat and Instagram all have the functionality to send disappearing videos. Ask whoever you’re chatting with to send you a disappearing video if you suspect that they’re a fake. Remember, catfish can steal disappearing videos from other real people. So it’s a good idea to request that they do or say something specific in the video – make sure that whatever you request is impossible for a catfish to fake on the spot.
Skype or video call.
A video call is another quick way to make sure the object of your desire is a real human, not a real catfish. But if you use FaceTime or Skype, be vigilant about protecting your personal information. Meaning: don’t hand over your phone number, FaceTime ID, or real name in your Skype username. Create and use a new video chat account that contains zero identifying information instead.