Catfishing

Catfishing is a form of impersonation which, unlike an intellectual property violation, is related to the individual, not an organization or business. A common case of catfishing will see one individual use the images of another to create a “fake profile” in their likeness, sometimes to cause distress and other times simply to try out a different identity. Catfishing is also common in online 'romance scams'. Here, the individual creates a fake dating profile, often to financially exploit their vicitms.

Generally, any form of impersonation, including catfishing, is not accepted on social media platforms and can be reported as impersonation or abuse of privacy. Twitter is one of the only platforms that allow a form of impersonation: parody. This is only permitted if the account clearly states to followers that it is a parody and not a genuine account, The Queen for example has lots of parody accounts.

Reporting Catfishing

Find out how to report catfishing to commonly used social networking sites below: