Welcome to the world of catfishing

Ever heard a story from a friend or a friend’s friend about finding love online?

A Facebook add from a stranger can turn into friendship, the friendship blossoms into something more and at the push of a key, you’re suddenly in a cyber-relationship.

Social media means no barriers. You don’t have to be physically face-to-face with your sweetheart – you can meet anyone, anywhere, from chat-rooms to Tinder. Getting to know someone takes no time at all.

It does make you wonder, though: how much of the person you’re interacting with is the real thing and how much is fake?

There’s a new kid on the block called ‘catfishing’ and it’s flexing in your DMs and hiding in your timeline.

Just like actual fishing where you put bait on a hook to try and catch as many fish as you can, catfishing is when people create fake online profiles. They pose as someone else and then lure unaware victims from the pool of the Internet into relationships.

Catfishing is a simple recipe – fake profile + unsuspecting love interest = disaster.

So why do people do it?

Sometimes society can be cruel. The media is always telling us what is attractive or not. People feel that their lack of luck in love has to do with how other people see them.

Insecurities make people hide behind a fake character and that puts the pressure off feeling self-conscious or invisible. When you think of it in that way, the reasons why people catfish have more to do with how we define beauty standards than people trying to be malicious.

But the problem with meeting people under false pretences is the lies get stacked like a deck of cards and it’s easy for the tall tales to come crashing down, which they eventually do.

Usually the person unaware that they’re being catfished will form a bond with this fake persona, being enticed with fake images and a made-up life. The more they talk online, the more they get to “know” this character who’s carefully pieced together pure fiction and when it’s time to meet in real life but Prince Charming seems hesitant, that’s when suspicions arise.

There’s a popular TV show on MTV that started it all, revolving around the lives of everyday people wanting to find out if their online honeys are who they say they are.

The show takes a journey with these victims, showing us inside the hunt for the truth and how easy it is to fall into the catfishing trap. As people who use the Internet as a main source of information and communication, how do we know when we’re being fed #fakenews?

If we’re all just profile pictures and bios anyone could write, how can we tell who’s being for real and who’s lying for re-tweets?

Well, there are signs to spot the illusive catfish:

If a stranger contacts you randomly, with no mutual friends or connections but they seem too good to be true, they’re probably catfishing.

If they tick all the boxes from “looks” to resume but refuse to meet or always have an excuse as to why you can’t link up, that should raise a few alarms.

Whatever the red flags, catfishing is a tricky business of weeding out the truth from fantasy but as long as it’s around, try not to get played!

Have you ever heard of someone being tricked by a ‘catfisher’?