Have you been Catfished?

[BainsBane]

The term Catfish comes from the movie about a young guy who falls for a woman on Facebook, only to discover she is a forty-something married woman with children. Essentially it means being deceived by a fake profile accompanied by a fake photo.
Anyone here experience that?

[In_The_Wind]

1. Too many times.

[BainsBane]

2. Details, please

Out with it!

[In_The_Wind]

3. Let's see

Lots of Match.com guys had profiles on several sites. Those were the ones who usually turned out to be (on-line) players. Only two guys ... the one from POF and a Match.com guy ( who was also on UpState Match.com) has current photos. Most of the guys were using 10 to 20 year old pics. The heart breakers were the long-term-getting-to-know-you-guys who just couldn't make it to that 1st date after months of e-mailing.

[BainsBane]

4. the old photo thing is common

but that's not the same as catfishing. Catfishing is pretending to be someone else. They post a completely fake photo of another person and generally lie about what they do for a living, hobbies, lots of stuff.

[In_The_Wind]

5. Nope. No total fakes unless those were the ones who didn't make the 1st date.

[BainsBane]

6. They probably were

You might checkout the Catfish show on MTV. Generally these people don't want to meet. What happens is they post a fake photo and end up getting quite close with people online and over the phone, sometimes talking several times a day. Then resist meeting because they aren't who they pretended to be. Nev Schulman contacts the person reluctant to meet, and then you see if they are a catfish or if something else is going on.

[In_The_Wind]

12. It might be good for a laugh.

I stopped on-line-dating 4 years ago.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

7. I would think most are not discovered....

It takes a suspension of one's 'credibility monitor' to buy into most online profiles...or at least those on dating sites.

[BainsBane]

8. If you ever see that show

Some of the people keep communicating for ten years! It's amazing how much people want to believe in a fantasy.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

9. A fantasy life is better than no life...

and there are many people who, for whatever reason, prefer fantasy to their reality.

[Moondog]

10. No. But I don't do Facebook

and have never done online dating sites.

And I am not a younger guy. On the dark side of 60 here, but only by a couple.

There is a larger question though, and it is - has one ever been BS'd, either by omission or by outright lie, about a material fact by someone that was "of interest"?

The answer is sure, who hasn't? And who doesn't get put off by it when it happens to them?

Meh. People lie. Constantly. It's part of life. Believe what you are told at your peril.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. not for any length of time, no.

Manti Teo comes to mind ...