How many people do you know that have been catfished?
Maybe you met a lovely girl online who for some reason, never wanted to meet physically. She seems to meet all your prerequisites, she has a wonderful voice, and you’re eager to meet this woman of your dreams. Then, it turned out, she was never real. Or she might be a guy in real life.
We heard that scenario one too many times, I think. But let’s flip the script a bit.
What if one day a stranger came up to you, started acting friendly and called you by an unfamiliar name? As you insist that you have never known her in real life, she looks at you confusedly as she hands you her phone.
It’s a social media account, starring you. But under an unfamiliar name. As you scroll in shock, you see multiple pictures of you being posted, some even of your friends.
This is not a made-up story, by the way. And this is not your typical catfish story.
How did it happen?
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
I was scrolling through TikTok when I saw an unfamiliar account and an even unfamiliar name posing as a friend of mine. Taking a screenshot and forwarding it to said friend, she was dismayed to discover that her photos were stolen. Especially since the captions accompanying it were riddled with bad grammar.
Of course, we did what anyone would do. Immediately, we DM-ed the account and asked her to stop posting the photos or else, she would be reported to the authorities.
The catfisher blocked my friend’s account instead and only unblocked her days later to apologise and promise to immediately take down the photos.
Think that’s the end of the story? You’re wrong.
This was back in December of 2023, by the way. This catfisher popped up again in our lives soon, this time affecting not just my friend but me.
Hardly a month had passed before another incident occurred. I can still vividly remember the sunny Saturday when a stranger came up to me and my friend and called her by an unfamiliar name.
The same one that was used by the catfish account.
We sat down and had a talk, where the biggest bomb was dropped on us. The TikTok catfisher has actually been using my friend’s photos for years. There were even photos from 3 years ago. So how long exactly has this catfisher been stalking my friend for material?
She even had the audacity to post photos of me and several of our friends, just to make her account look more authentic. To make matters worse, some of the posts received quite a number of unsavoury comments from Internet creeps. You can imagine how disturbed we were to find out that nugget of info. To make matters worse, the catfisher even had a ‘fan club’ and an Internet boyfriend!
To make a very long and frankly horrifying tale of identity theft short, we had to report the account to the police and the Malaysian Communications & Multimedia Commission. Hopefully, they will be able to track down the culprit and she won’t ever do it again.
Is it that serious? Well, it is!
Identity theft is the act of stealing someone’s personal and sensitive information, such as their photos and videos, names and addresses, social security numbers, and credit card numbers. The perpetrator then uses this information for their own financial gain or to commit other criminal activities. (Source : AxCrypt)
You’ll be surprised at how resourceful and industrious online scammers can be these days. From a photo of you posing with a peace sign, scammers can zoom in, scan your fingers and boom, they have a copy of your prints. Adam Levin, author and founder of CyberScout, called it ‘print-swiping.’ Given that the world is increasingly reliant on biometric technology, the risks are ever-rising.
Scary, isn’t it? In this article by The Guardian, a man recounts his experience of his identity being stolen online. His end quote was eye-opening.
“ You always think that somebody is going to steal your credit card details online. You never suspect anyone is going to steal your face.”
If anything I think it highlights even more the need to stay vigilant on the Internet. Therefore, here are some ways you can reduce the risks of someone using your face to scam people. Eek!
- Adjust your privacy settings to control who can view your profile
- Deactivate or delete old social media profiles
- Suss out your online connections
- Use a password manager
Of course, the safest way will be not to have an online presence at all, but living in a digitalised world makes it kind of hard to exist without any. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to mitigate the risks. Don’t forget to stay safe and secure online!
