9 Dangers of Catfishing and How to Protect Yourself

Catfishing. You may have heard the term, but do you know what it means? Catfishing is a term used for people that create false identities for social media or online dating platforms. Hold on to your hat and read on. Once a false identity is created, the damage created can be unimaginable!

With the increasing demands on all our lives, the time and opportunity for meeting and establishing a loving relationship can be difficult. Traditional dating has become all but obsolete, and social media online dating has become the number one way for people to find love and companionship. Unfortunately, with the increase in popularity of online dating, the likelihood of being catfished also increases dramatically.

Catfishing has become a growing phenomenon among internet daters in search of love. This is usually done to deceptively pursue online romances in pursuit of some personal gain by the catfisher at the expense of the person they are catfishing. People engaging in catfishing are usually doing so as a way to lure a romantic partner, obtain money and gifts, taunt, embarrass, seek revenge for being jilted, etc.

Online dating has a great potential to help people connect with individuals both locally and afar. However, like everything in life, there will be some people who will abuse this system. Catfishing is rapidly becoming a severe problem within the online dating community.

There are more suspicion and fear regarding we are chatting with the person identified in this profile? Is this person real? You can not be too safe when it comes to protecting yourself and your assets. A little extra caution before becoming emotionally involved is advised.

Dangers of Catfishing

1. Creating self-doubt.
2. Diminished self-esteem.
3. Becoming emotionally invested and even falling in love with someone who does not exist.
4. Changing one’s life based upon a lie.
5. Embarrassment.
6. Emotional devastation.
7. Monetary Loss due to giving gifts and money.
8. Questioning your decision-making capabilities.
9. Trust issues.

Helpful Tips to Avoid Being Catfished

• The scammer won’t Skype or use a webcam to communicate with you. They prefer to text or telephone and always cancel planned in-person meetings at the last minute.
• They profess love for you very quickly.
• Their profile looks incomplete and has pertinent information missing.
• They ask you for money or gifts.
• They seem too good to be true.
• They have a sob story about their life.
• They give you confusing or conflicting information.
• The profile picture seems to appear grainy or old.

How to Avoid Being Catfished

• Ask to jump on FaceTime or Skype with your new love interest. If they continually come up with excuses, why they can’t, that’s a big red flag!
• Quiz them on what is in their profile. Places they’ve been, people they know.
• Run a background check.
• Contact Social Catfish.

This site is explicitly named after the catfisher. Social Catfish specializes in helping people who think they may be being catfished by helping you perform a catfish image search. They have a depth of experience with victims of catfishing and state of the art technology to assist you in getting to the bottom of this terrible situation.

There are tens of thousands of people online every second searching for true love. It is possible to find your soulmate online, but you need to be aware and take precautions against becoming a victim of being catfished. Social Catfish is here to assist you in whatever is necessary to protect yourself from being taken advantage of ad staying one step ahead of being catfished.