Hooked in by another Catfish hoax story

THERE was a programme called Catfish in which a man called Neve helped unmask fake online relationships. Whether it was because of a reluctance to talk on the phone or to meet up, a person might suspect that their online friend, often long-term and serious, might not be real. The term ‘Catfish’ was born.

Recently I was contacted by someone who said he was a widower, just moved to Dublin, wealthy, successful and I was the kind of woman he would like to get to know. He provided a photo which was certainly appealing, if it did look ever so slightly like it might have come from a magazine shoot.

Handsome, wealthy widower, you say? My friend and I got on the case. His email signature included a link to a company but the email address was gmail. No phone number. There was indeed a whole website for the company, and his name appeared on it. However, the English on the website was dodgy, there were no staff photos and the only contact an info@ and an address which turned out to be a generic office building in Toronto, thank you Google street view. No mention of the company on the entire internet and, his LinkedIn has only seven connections and no photo, he has zero social media presence and the reverse image search proved fruitless too. It is, without question, a hoax.

He’s wealthy ‘n’ all, so he is unlikely to be hitting my broke ass up for the loan of a tenner, so we wrote back again. Heartfelt stuff, and some if it was true. Back come more feelings and hopes for our future. But guess what, much as he’d love to meet me, he can’t. I hadn’t asked to meet. So, naturally, in my reply I insisted. And wouldn’t you know it, dude is off to Qatar just now.