What is catphishing? It certainly isn AND rsquo;t Garfield lazily sitting in a canoe holding a fishing rod. Catphishing is when a fraudster fabricates an identity and tricks someone via cyber communication into a phony emotional or romantic relationship AND mdash;usually for financial gain to the scammer AND mdash;because eventually he AND rsquo;ll hit the victim up for money.
But another reason for catphishing is to lure someone into having a AND ldquo;relationship AND rdquo; with the scammer AND mdash;to either ultimately publically humiliate them with this information if they AND rsquo;re well-known, or, to prove to a significant other that they AND rsquo;re capable of cheating. Not all catphishers are fraudulent. Sometimes, a person will catphish to catch a criminal.
One doesn AND rsquo;t get reeled in overnight, but the warning signs of the early stages of catphishing are clear: A too good to be true situation. The other party is very attractive (don AND rsquo;t bet for a second it AND rsquo;s really their photo). Another tell-tale sign that should make the alarm bells go off: This person comes out of thin air.
He AND hellip;or she AND hellip;will be reluctant to use the phone. Skype is out of the question: AND ldquo;I can AND rsquo;t figure out how to use it, AND rdquo;identity fraudidentity proofingidentity protection
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