Being duped, deceived and lied to are no fun. But it happens sometimes – even to the best of us. That’s why today we’re going to cover the nuisance of catfishing. You’ve probably heard of the term before. It was coined by MTV’s, Nev Schulman who decided to film a documentary on it after he himself was fooled by a “beautiful model” through Facebook.
Catfishing is when someone you’ve been chatting with online deceives you about who they really are. They look nothing like they portray themselves to look and in most cases are lying about their lives in general.
Before you get wrapped up in any online love connections, here are 5 ways to avoid getting catfished:
Facebook Profile
- Check out their Facebook profile: Try to notice how “genuine” it looks. Do they have a lot of friends? Are these their real friends? If so, there should be some conversation between them. Commenting on posts and vice versa.
- Do any of their pics show them doing real world things? If all shots look like modeling shots, you have a reason to be suspicious.
Google Them
- Google them: This may seem like common sense, but many times we don’t do it. Just see what you can find on them. See if they have any other online presence.
Biggest Giveaways
- See if they are willing to FaceTime with you or have a Zoom or Skype chat. You’ll notice if they try to avoid doing so.
- Do a reverse image search on Google. This tip comes courtesy of sheknows.com. With this handy little tool, all you have to do is upload the image and see what Google comes up with. If the picture is stolen, you’ll know right away.
Most importantly, just follow your gut instincts and you should never have to worry about being catfished.
