Lifestyle
Internet fraudsters used a photo of me to dupe people online
Fraud: An increasing number of internet users’ images have been used for “catfishing” — the practice of creating a fake online dating profile in order to lure victims into relationships.
He was such a sorry character, and kind of exactly what I expected. He obviously couldn’t meet women in real life.” Matt Peacock, model whose image has been used by another person for catfishing
Glancing at a photograph of Matt Peacock, it isn’t particularly difficult to understand why women on dating websites easily fall in love with him; the 34-year-old has been a professional model for the better part of two decades, tackling everything from glossy underwear campaigns to prowling the moors as the face of Purdey shotguns.
And over the past six years, more than 60 women have done just that — seen his image on Tinder and other dating platforms, and promptly “swiped right” to indicate attraction and strike up a conversation.
The only catch is that Peacock hasn’t been the man behind any of these online dating profiles. In fact, he didn’t even know they existed, until girls he had never seen before got in touch, to say they had been communicating with someone pretending to be him.
“It began with two or three [profiles] a year, mainly on Facebook or a dating site called ‘Plenty of Fish,’ Peacock says, in his gleaming Cheshire kitchen. “I would get messages from girls saying that somebody was using my photos on a fake account, and they’d been chatted up.”
Peacock is one of an increasing number of internet users whose images have been used for “catfishing” — the practice of creating a fake online dating profile in order to lure victims into relationships.
Six years ago, he didn’t take the issue seriously. Given he is a model, with photographs of himself in various states of undress all over the internet, it was little more than an annoyance. Then the problem escalated.
“People started contacting Rachel, [his then girlfriend, now wife] on social media to tell her they’d seen these other accounts, so I must be cheating. Some of the girls who had fallen for it would say I had sent nude photographs to them and asked for them [to send some] back, and show her the fake photos.”
Over the years, Peacock was reporting up to 10 fake profiles a month to Facebook or Tinder, but another could be created in minutes. Each would target a different victim pool.
Generally, a smart modelling shot would be used as the main photo, backed by a selection of Instagram photographs. For instance, images with his golden retriever, Barney, as a puppy would appeal to animal lovers; gym photos may titillate health-obsessives.
Most disturbingly, photographs of Peacock with his young nephew were co-opted to give the impression of being a single father looking for love.
In most instances, the cat-fishers stay hidden behind their chosen online avatar, chatting to their victim and building trust, before potentially asking for explicit photo- graphs or, in some cases, money.
Last year, for instance, widowed university professor Judith Lathlean was tricked into sending more than £140,000 to a gang posing as an eligible man on a dating website.
Particular concern
Stolen images of children are of particular concern online. An online “game” called “baby role-play” involves players taking photos of children from strangers’ social media accounts, then “virtually adopting” them by reposting them with a new name and backstory, and pretending to be the child’s parents.
Even more frighteningly, a 2015 investigation into the global paedophile underworld found about half the material shared was sourced straight from social media.
“The [pictures of the] kids was one of the worst things for creating a strain in my family,” he says. “The whole thing never hurt my relationship, but my brother started to get angry. Though he knew it wasn’t my fault, he didn’t want me putting photos of his kids on Instagram any more — understandably.”
In November last year, one woman changed his attitude altogether. Finding the real Peacock after falling for his image online, she told him how she had been duped into revealing explicit details about herself and sending intimate photographs. Realising the man she’d been speaking to wasn’t real, she said, had left her so ashamed that she’d felt suicidal.
Worst-case scenarios began playing through Peacock’s mind: how many other women’s lives had already been ruined in some way? And what if underage girls were being preyed on, too?
Investigating further, Peacock heard of other victims who had been driven to suicide after being duped online. In 2007, a 13-year-old in Missouri, United States, killed herself after a fake profile she had befriended on MySpace began to insult her.
Closer to home, in Redcar last year, 18-year-old Mitchell Bowie took his own life after his Facebook girlfriend reportedly ‘told him to’. His family told an inquest they believed the girlfriend was a fake profile.
Peacock posted about the problem on Facebook, and among the responses was one from Rebecca Jane, founder of The Lady Detective Agency, which specialises in love cheats. Jane offered to team up with Peacock to try and rumble the catfisher by duping him back. It took only weeks for a result.
“They found one of the victims and they got her to contact the guy, saying she knew he was someone else, but that she’d fallen in love with his personality,” Peacock explains. “After a couple of weeks, he sent her his real profile and she asked if they could meet …”
They arranged for the catfisher to wait outside a hotel in his car for the woman — but it was Peacock who tapped on the window.
“His face just fell. I made him get out of the car, and started laying into him; he was shaking with fear.”
The man admitted everything, producing a mobile phone containing only photographs of Peacock, to be used on numerous dating profiles and social media accounts. Generally, he messaged women looking for photographs, but on one occasion even met a victim in person, pretending to be Peacock’s brother. He managed to have dinner with the woman in question, before she left.
“He was such a sorry character, and kind of exactly what I expected. He obviously couldn’t meet women in real life. I knew he’d just made some very bad decisions,” Peacock says.
Deciding to “be the bigger man”, Peacock gave the catfisher a stern lecture and a chance to turn his life around. Three weeks later, Jane’s team reported that the man was back at it.
Peacock went straight to the police, only to be told no laws had been broken, so the CPS couldn’t pick it up: “The officer’s exact words were that it was ‘the online equivalent of going into a bar and telling somebody you’re an airline pilot when in reality you’re a binman,’” he says.
So the catfisher walked free, and, according to Peacock, continues to work in the Thames Valley area as a British Gas engineer, meaning he has access to people’s homes, family photos and personal details.
Killing Catfish
Peacock and Jane are now on a crusade to bring in laws that make catfishing illegal, with an online campaign, Killing Catfish.
“I want a simple verification system on social media, where you have to use a form of ID before creating an account,” Peacock says. “We live in a social media world now, we need laws that reflect that.”
According to fraud prevention organisation Cifas, a record high of 172,919 incidents of identity fraud were recorded last year, of which 88 per cent occurred online. But that number would be far higher if catfish victims were taken into account. On Facebook alone, Cifas say, there are more than 80 million fake profiles.
In the age of social media, more photos and users means it’s getting easier for catfishers to find aliases. Everyone is at risk, Peacock says, but “the real victims rarely speak out because they’re ashamed or upset, and that’s why this needs to change.”
Backed by Ann Coffey, his local Stockport MP, Peacock had his argument heard in Parliament earlier this month, and has been promised swift action, creating pressure for social media companies to follow suit. Until then, the catfishing continues.
“I’m not going to stop,” Peacock says. “I can’t live in fear of that phone call, from some girl’s mum saying they’ve done something stupid because of a lack of laws. It’s frightening.”