A possible victim of catfish

[ahellokittya]

How do I know if an account on instagram is fake?

It looks like I am talking to a real person. But, I think I am freaking out now because I don't want to be a victim. And, If I can close down this account I will.

What should I do if I want to ask the person to prove to me they are who they say they are like without making it look like I don't trust them. I have just been talking for a week. Please help!

[Downinil]

Hi ahellokittya! If there is any doubt do not trust them. Social media is full of fake profiles. Protect yourself.

[ahellokittya in reply to Downinil]

Yea that's unfortunate. I am disappointed because apparently if the person cancels last minute to meet with you there exist a potential that the account might not be real. I was going to meet the guy on Saturday. He seems like a real account and person, but it hard to know. It frustrating because I don't really know. I almost wish my full name wasn't on my social media but it is.

[Sylvain-]

Hi ahellokittya.

I am a 51-year-old man, by nature very suspicious, and reasonably aware of social scams and alike. I was almost caught by a catfish a few weeks ago. Search in my previous posts, I talked a bit about that here.

The point is, in case of doubt, do not trust them.

From my experience, if you ask yourself what to do, that means that more or less conciensiouly you feel that there is something wrong. But you don't want to accept it because:

1) it hurts to be wrong ("How could I have been so naive?")

2) you feel a need for that relationship ("No one was interested in me like that before", "I feel so lonely", "that may be my last chance to make a friend")

3) because of low self-esteem or self-confidence, we prefer to doubt our feelings but to trust a perfect stranger on the Internet ("This time, I won't let my shyness spoil that relationship ")

The quotes above were my thoughts at that time.

Things that should have warned me:

1) she was a ghost. Despite claiming to have solid professional experience, I couldn't find her on LinkedIn or in a simple Google search.

2) she almost immediately wanted to leave the Twitter chat to talk on Telegram.

My last advice: in case of doubt, it is better to lean on the safe side. Take care of yourself.

- Sylvain

[ahellokittya in reply to Sylvain-]

Thank you for sharing this information. It's always good to know the reasons why someone is doing something. I might just be anxious about starting a new relationship and thinking about the worst case scenario in my case. Although, these things always exist and the reason that make you deny it are good to keep in mind, thanks!

[Elizabeth830]

if the person claims to live somewhat nearby you, and you are texting quickly back and forth, I sometimes ask them local questions. Like what was the name of the restaurant that used to be where McDonlds is now. If they don’t answer right away they probably don’t live where they say they do. Or what was your favorite local restaurant growing up? One person told me after enough time for an Internet search that a particular restaurant looked good. You don’t say “looked good” unless you have been there, you say “looked good” if you just found it on the Internet and it looked like a nice place.

One person, I asked them to tell me something about the city near where we live that only a local would know and they sent me a couple of sentences copied and pasted from the cities Wikipedia page. I was like, thank you for making it that obvious.

[ahellokittya in reply to Elizabeth830]

Thanks for sharing!

Glad you were able to note the strange behaviors these people do. Keep safe!