There's a lot of things we don't talk about when it comes to catfishing. There's always an emphasis on the person who is behind the fake profile, and the person who has fallen in love with them, with little regard to the person whose pictures have been used to make a new profile. This disregard stretches as far as the law, something I figured out quite recently.
A few months ago some guy, Fred* used my pictures to create a series of social media profiles. He lives in Bury, a good distance away from me and I have never interacted with Fred, I've never had him as a friend, or even a follower. How he stumbled upon my profile and decided to use my pictures is something I'll never know. About a year or two ago, someone sent me a MeetMe profile. I didn't think much of it at the time, because I thought myself "Facebook Famous" and acted like it was the norm for me. I made a MeetMe profile and reported the fake profile and it was taken down. That was it for about another year or so. Then, while I was on holiday, a profile from Plenty of Fish was sent to me saying someone was using my pictures. I had only just got with my boyfriend, and I was wary either one of his friends would see me on there, or one of my friends would and think less of me. I posted the screencap on my profile and asked people to report it. The pictures used on the PoF profile were the same ones used on the MeetMe one.
A few weeks later, someone sent me a link to a Facebook profile. The name was Alex Redd (very imaginative name considering I had bright red hair at the time of the pictures used). The picture was of me from 2013, back in my prime. It was quite strange, because the profile had blocked my main account on Facebook and I was using a secondary account (due to postblock). Curious, I searched for the name Alex Redd on Google. The search threw back a YouTube account, a Google+ account, a Twitter, the Facebook, even an AskFm, all using my pictures. I went outside for a cigarette. It made me uneasy. Its a surreal feeling that somebody is trying to live a life wearing your face as a mask. The it makes you panic about what things they've been saying to people, whether they've been conning people, or if someone's fallen in love with this fake persona.
I decided to add the people on the Alex Redd account and popped up to those who accepted to explain what had happened. A couple of girls were particularly helpful, Georgia* and Megan*, who told me that Fred had told them Alex Redd was his sister. They were very confused as to why they hadn't met this sister yet, but whenever they tried to arrange a meeting something would happen. One girl had even drawn a picture of Alex and sent it to her. They gave me the link to Fred's Facebook profile, where I sent a demanding and angry message to take the accounts down. He blocked me almost immediately, making my boyfriend even angrier about the whole thing and he sent him a message too, only to be blocked again. When I looked the next day the Alex Redd Facebook was gone, either because Fred had removed it, or because my friends had all reported it for being fake (n.b. the initial reports people submitted said that the profile didn't violate the community standards... because using my face when you are not me isn't wrong?). Most of the other profiles had gone too so I was content enough and went about with my life.
Then, earlier this week, I got a message off somebody containing a screencap from an app called Skout (basically think of a discount Tinder). Guess what the name of the profile was? ALEX REDD. I was livid. On the profile I had one 59 year old man telling me how nice my boobs were, people making all sorts of inappropriate comments, the profile even had a "backstage" image (something people PAY FOR) which was one of my pictures where I'm showing cleavage. I was appalled. I posted about it on Facebook and one of my friends gave me the profile to Fred's girlfriends page, Annabelle*, as Fred had blocked me on his new account, too. I messaged Annabelle and did all I could to get her to see it. When she read it, she was appalled. I told her I would be going to the police because this has gone on for far too long, she begged me not to, and described to me the hard time Fred was apparently having to drive him to make a catfish of me. Now, I'm a pretty understanding person and try my best for people a lot of the time, but we all have our demons and crap to deal with, and it simply is not ok to steal someone's pictures and use them to flirt with men on a dating app.
She apologised and apologised, but I simply told her that it's not her fault and would like one from Fred but I would still talk to the police.
So when I got back from university I phoned the police. Do you want to hear their groundbreaking advice?
Contact Facebook and get them to take the profile down.
Wow, thank you, that is totally not the first thing I did in this situation.
So, I contacted MTV instead and I'm waiting back to hear off them to see if I'm going to be on Catfish the TV Show.
Turns out, people who are used to catfish others can't take any sort of legal action against a catfish, which is total bullshit, because it's basically fraud and identity theft, especially if the catfish was getting gifts or money from people.
The whole situation has made me very angry. Annabelle is staying with Fred, because he's having a bad time and is lonely or something. Personally, I think she can do better and he needs a lot of therapy. The profile is currently off Skout (I had to make an account with Skout- it is a horrific app, would not recommend to singletons if you wanna find someone), and there is still no apology from Fred. He hasn't even unblocked me. My boyfriend messaged him on my behalf, only for him to reply that it apparently isn't him (even though it was the same pictures as previous times and the location was set to Bury- where Fred lives), and even lied to his girlfriend firstly about how Alex is his sister, and secondly how long this had been going on for.
Seriously, Fred, lets not ever meet. I am not your sister. Alex Redd is fictional. Get help.
A few months ago some guy, Fred* used my pictures to create a series of social media profiles. He lives in Bury, a good distance away from me and I have never interacted with Fred, I've never had him as a friend, or even a follower. How he stumbled upon my profile and decided to use my pictures is something I'll never know. About a year or two ago, someone sent me a MeetMe profile. I didn't think much of it at the time, because I thought myself "Facebook Famous" and acted like it was the norm for me. I made a MeetMe profile and reported the fake profile and it was taken down. That was it for about another year or so. Then, while I was on holiday, a profile from Plenty of Fish was sent to me saying someone was using my pictures. I had only just got with my boyfriend, and I was wary either one of his friends would see me on there, or one of my friends would and think less of me. I posted the screencap on my profile and asked people to report it. The pictures used on the PoF profile were the same ones used on the MeetMe one.
A few weeks later, someone sent me a link to a Facebook profile. The name was Alex Redd (very imaginative name considering I had bright red hair at the time of the pictures used). The picture was of me from 2013, back in my prime. It was quite strange, because the profile had blocked my main account on Facebook and I was using a secondary account (due to postblock). Curious, I searched for the name Alex Redd on Google. The search threw back a YouTube account, a Google+ account, a Twitter, the Facebook, even an AskFm, all using my pictures. I went outside for a cigarette. It made me uneasy. Its a surreal feeling that somebody is trying to live a life wearing your face as a mask. The it makes you panic about what things they've been saying to people, whether they've been conning people, or if someone's fallen in love with this fake persona.
I decided to add the people on the Alex Redd account and popped up to those who accepted to explain what had happened. A couple of girls were particularly helpful, Georgia* and Megan*, who told me that Fred had told them Alex Redd was his sister. They were very confused as to why they hadn't met this sister yet, but whenever they tried to arrange a meeting something would happen. One girl had even drawn a picture of Alex and sent it to her. They gave me the link to Fred's Facebook profile, where I sent a demanding and angry message to take the accounts down. He blocked me almost immediately, making my boyfriend even angrier about the whole thing and he sent him a message too, only to be blocked again. When I looked the next day the Alex Redd Facebook was gone, either because Fred had removed it, or because my friends had all reported it for being fake (n.b. the initial reports people submitted said that the profile didn't violate the community standards... because using my face when you are not me isn't wrong?). Most of the other profiles had gone too so I was content enough and went about with my life.
Then, earlier this week, I got a message off somebody containing a screencap from an app called Skout (basically think of a discount Tinder). Guess what the name of the profile was? ALEX REDD. I was livid. On the profile I had one 59 year old man telling me how nice my boobs were, people making all sorts of inappropriate comments, the profile even had a "backstage" image (something people PAY FOR) which was one of my pictures where I'm showing cleavage. I was appalled. I posted about it on Facebook and one of my friends gave me the profile to Fred's girlfriends page, Annabelle*, as Fred had blocked me on his new account, too. I messaged Annabelle and did all I could to get her to see it. When she read it, she was appalled. I told her I would be going to the police because this has gone on for far too long, she begged me not to, and described to me the hard time Fred was apparently having to drive him to make a catfish of me. Now, I'm a pretty understanding person and try my best for people a lot of the time, but we all have our demons and crap to deal with, and it simply is not ok to steal someone's pictures and use them to flirt with men on a dating app.
She apologised and apologised, but I simply told her that it's not her fault and would like one from Fred but I would still talk to the police.
So when I got back from university I phoned the police. Do you want to hear their groundbreaking advice?
Contact Facebook and get them to take the profile down.
Wow, thank you, that is totally not the first thing I did in this situation.
So, I contacted MTV instead and I'm waiting back to hear off them to see if I'm going to be on Catfish the TV Show.
Turns out, people who are used to catfish others can't take any sort of legal action against a catfish, which is total bullshit, because it's basically fraud and identity theft, especially if the catfish was getting gifts or money from people.
The whole situation has made me very angry. Annabelle is staying with Fred, because he's having a bad time and is lonely or something. Personally, I think she can do better and he needs a lot of therapy. The profile is currently off Skout (I had to make an account with Skout- it is a horrific app, would not recommend to singletons if you wanna find someone), and there is still no apology from Fred. He hasn't even unblocked me. My boyfriend messaged him on my behalf, only for him to reply that it apparently isn't him (even though it was the same pictures as previous times and the location was set to Bury- where Fred lives), and even lied to his girlfriend firstly about how Alex is his sister, and secondly how long this had been going on for.
Seriously, Fred, lets not ever meet. I am not your sister. Alex Redd is fictional. Get help.
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