Catfishing is the practice of fabricating an online persona with the intention of misleading, tormenting, or tricking another person.
According to CNN, it’s a common tactic on dating apps, websites, and social media to establish contacts online under false pretenses and occasionally to dupe people into falling for money schemes.
A “catfish” may also trick a victim into giving them intimate pictures in exchange for compulsion or blackmail. Sextortion is the term used for this. Alternately, they might use other people’s personal information to steal identities.
The Cybersmile Foundation, a nonprofit that supports digital well-being, asserts that while there are many reasons why people fall victim to catfishing, lack of confidence is the most common.
The foundation claims that if someone is unhappy with who they are, making themselves appear more beautiful to others might help them feel better.
They could also hide their identity in order to bully or blackmail someone, get into a different form of connection, or just plain trolling. Some people may catfish others in an attempt to find out what their sexual inclinations are.
According to the Cybersmile Foundation, teens are now equally as likely as adults to engage in catfishing on online dating platforms.
A Snapchat poll conducted last year with over 6,000 Gen Z teens and young adults in Australia, France, Germany, India, the UK, and the US revealed that more than two-thirds of them .
