Catfish (Online dating scam)

TabbyAnn

TabbyAnn

Southern Indiana, U.S.A.
Location
Southern Indiana USA
Can't believe women are still falling for words on a computer screen that alter their lives, hearts and pocketbooks.
The typical characteristics of a catfish are:

1. They claim to live in your country but are in a foreign country on business.
2. Their language doesn’t quite fit the good grammar of your native language.
3. They quickly fall in love with you over the Internet.
4. They can’t wait to get home to meet and marry you.
5. They suddenly experience a catastrophe in the foreign country that requires money.
6. Their own access to money has been lost, stolen, or compromised temporarily.
7. They need a quick loan from you to resolve the issue.
8. They will repay the loan as soon as they get back home to you.
9. If you send the money, other complications needing money will follow.
10. Once they’ve bled you dry, you never hear from them again.
 

MrPants said:
I've never heard the term Catfish used in this manner. Boy; I gotta get out more!

Yes, I agree that seniors, especially lonely ones, tend to bring out the scammers of all sorts
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I first heard the term a few years ago on the national TV show "Dr. Phil". It has since become a recognized name for the particular scam described. Phil does a special about once a year on Catfish scams and they all follow a similar pattern. I've seen women (and a few men) who sent over a hundred thousand to foreign catfish.

One woman sold her home which was paid for to send money to her on-screen lover who disappeared when she became homeless and penniless.. She told Dr. Phil she had been "dating" the catfish for 2 years. That was the first time I heard the term "dating" applied to email correspondence.

Now many people claim to be "dating" words on a computer screen. I can remember when dating meant dinners, movies, and other activities with a real person.
 
MrPants said:
I'm not up on all the relationship lingo I guess. Never knew what 'gaslighting' was till recently (still not really sure)
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I only heard of Gaslighting a couple of years ago. It is based on an old thriller movie called Gaslighting set in times when gas was used for lighting homes.

A husband intent on acquiring his wife’s home and fortune, tried to convince her she was insane by sneaking into the attic and lowering the gas to the room she was in, thus darkening the room and then he claimed there was no change in the illumination.

He had other tactics as well but Gaslighting became the term used by the psychological profession to describe any collection of tactics used to convince another person they are insane.
 
Farrah Nuff said:
It happens to men, sometimes, as well.
But usually in a different scenario.
Being lonely makes one vulnerable.
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I was just going to say the same... I've heard of this going on for years now, and it seems to be evenly split... not one gender being taken advantage of more than the other. It's loneliness and wanting to have someone care... not gender specific.
 

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Marie5656 said:
Dr Phil regularly did episodes about these ladies. So often the ladies still refused to believe they were being catfished. Some catfishers would use real pics of men off the internet. Even when they met the men who had their pics stolen, it was still hard for them to believe
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I remember one episode where the woman was so delusional. Dr. Phil even brought out the man who was in the picture, and he told the lady he did not know who she was. She still did not believe it.
 
When the topic of how some get scammed, It reminds of a woman I worked with. She had a thing for Johnny Carson. This was way more than liking a TV show. "My Johnny said this", "My Johnny said that". She couldn't be out at 11:30 PM, because her Johnny was "home". You could tell she had this fantasy that her "Johnny" was live in the living room. We all thought it was strange, and weird, considering she admitted never meeting the guy. But it was the same kind of irrational love for an unreal person.
 
George1959 said:
In Germany is a site on the internet with thousands of stories of women who were victims of catfishers. They have a discussion forum too. The most threads regard cases of catfishers from Tunesia.
https://www.1001geschichte.de
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Nigeria is also the base for a lot of these people. I once got chatting to a man from that country. He said he didn't have a bank account and could he borrow mine? It's hard to believe that so many people are fooled.
 
Lavinia said:
Nigeria is also the base for a lot of these people. I once got chatting to a man from that country. He said he didn't have a bank account and could he borrow mine? It's hard to believe that so many people are fooled.
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You are right. African countries around the Equator are on place two in the forum.
 
I find it incredibly sad when people use others peoples vulnerabilities & insecurities against them for their own greed. It’s very sad how people get taken advantage and the internet makes it that much easier.

I’ve watched a few dr. Phil shows where women have sold their house and given all the money away to these cat fishers. Dr. Phil invites the real person who got their photo and identity stolen on the show and they steal continue to get scanned. Very sad.
 


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