Relatives worried that niece is an online ‘catfish’

Dear Amy: My niece is a lovely young woman. My daughter and I are very close to her. I have often acted in a motherly fashion to her while she was growing up and she was a bridesmaid in my daughter's wedding.

We speak to her regularly and, although she lives in another state, we see her whenever possible. She is an adult in her mid-30s. She is beautiful, sweet, intelligent, and has a wonderful boyfriend and a good job.

Here's the difficulty: She is constantly posting photographs on all of her social media sites that we know are stolen from other people or websites, claiming that the photos are of her. Several other friends have noticed and commented to us about it. Once, my daughter tried to delicately tell her that the photo of "her" on the beach in Hawaii was being used on a travel website for Mexico. My niece simply replied that they had stolen her photo (and then erased all traces of it from her accounts).

Although we are slightly bothered by this, we wonder why she wants to give others the impression that her life is something it is not.

She seems to have a great life, and is happy and well-regarded.

We are more concerned that her online persona doesn't end with just the posting of photos and that she may actually be pretending to be someone else and may be developing online relationships based on that. This could seriously harm (or ruin) her current relationship or her job.

Should we confront her, and if so, how do we go about it without ruining our relationship with her?

Dear Concerned: You and your daughter have already notified your niece that you've noticed her social media disconnect, and the fact that your niece immediately removed the photo tells you that she understood your message.

Stealing photos is wrong, and it is an affront to photographers, who make their living selling images, only to see them stolen and used elsewhere without credit or compensation.

But I'm not sure how you get from filching photos to the idea that your niece might be engaged in catfishing.

When you see your niece posting publicly, you can freely comment on her choices. In terms of her private activities, she is a grown woman, and unless her choices have a direct impact on you, you shouldn't speculate.