Catfishing

Catfishing is a type of deceptive activity where a person creates a sock puppet social networking presence, or fake identity on a social network account, for attention seeking, bullying or as a romance scam.

What is catfishing?
A "catfish" is someone pretending to be someone they are not on the internet. A catfish usually targets a victim or has someone they are pretending for. Usually people intend catfishing as a romance scam on dating websites or seeking online relationships. People use fake profile pictures, names, and often genders. Catfishers create fake profiles to trick people into thinking they are someone else. Usually, the fabricated life displayed is the one they wish was their own, making it easy to act as if it is really them.

There are now catfishing shows that are produced to solve the mysteries of individuals' online relationships. Victims tend to get suspicious when their online partner refuses to meet in person or via web cam.

Signs of catfishing
There are several ways people can spot someone who is trying to catfish them online. If a random person starts following them or messaging them, and their profile picture looks fake or too good to be true, then they are probably catfishing them. These signs are very helpful when wanting to catch a catfish profile.