Catfishing: Uncovering fake identities | Full Episode | SBS Insight

Catfishing is when someone creates a fake online identity to lure someone into a relationship. For catfishers it’s not usually about money, rather an escape from real life. But for victims, it can be devastating. In this Insight episode, we meet a catfish and discuss if tougher penalties are needed.
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Insight, hosted by Kumi Taguchi, is Australia's leading forum for powerful first-person stories offering a unique perspective on the way we live.
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[@maggiewu8887]

Playing on a person's emotions is evil and cruel. Trapping them in your own insecurity and gameplay. There's no excuses for doing so! There should be laws to put them away in jail

[@valeriemacphail9180]

Jail cannot be used and abused over any little thing. lt is there to keep violent dangerous offenders from wreaking havoc in society. The best punishment is to hit them in the wallet.

[@Annieetsabibli]

When the black girl was talking at the end, saying she made people happy with her profile and not taking any responsibility, I could see the rage in the mother who has lost her daughter, it looks like she had the hardest time hearing those selfish words. I’m sorry but this behavior is disgusting and her saying she wouldn’t do it if it was illegal is bullshit. That’s the kind of person who has zero remorse, zero empathy and she will always put her own satisfaction and needs above those of others and even the law. 🤮No decency at all saying those words while surrounded by people who have suffered and lost tremendously because of similar behavior.

[@Truthseeker371]

Catfishiing must be treated in the same way as identity theft. What's the difference?

[@patjennings3760]

Because the person is willing giving them their money. Maybe ☹️

[@samdasilva1914]

I hate the way that young woman keeps talking about her anxiety issues. She's more like a narcissistic sociopath. She doesn't seem remotely concerned about what she does. The law needs to change to keep up with technology, however people need to stop sending money and sexual content to people the have never met.

[@luciaschieffer8958]

There should be laws to punish people who does catfishing, they should go to jail.

[@BeGioBijoux]

I guess you could sue them for emotional distress and fake identity, identity theft and so on. Civil maybe not criminal?

[@thuongthuong9922]

Many times it was almost happening to me but I was stopped right away when the guy just makes excuses and was asking for money!!

[@TGIF82]

it must have been devastating for all of them at that time. It's disgusting and it makes you think how vulnerable we all really are. I cannot comprehend how it comes to someone's mind to pretend to be someone else. I mean we all went through times in our lives when we wish to be more accepted or look like someone else. I really hope they heal.

[@lorimiller4301]

I don't lie too much about my life, I just lie about who I am. Well, that clears that up!

[@rita4missions]

She is sick

[@andrealabrooy7831]

Catfishing is selfish and plain evil!! These people have no conscience and remorse of how they affect peoples lives. They definitely need to be jailed for a very long time.

[@khacemlouisditsully9114]

The black girl is so mean, having social anxiety is not an excuse to lie and mistreat people emotionally 😤🤦🏾‍♀️🤮

[@rita4missions]

She is absolutely sick, excusing herself with every excuses and believing it. She should be ashamed but she is not. She is truly dangerous like all the rest. She needs mental help for sure!

[@nancydrew1882]

She is a deranged, self hating lunatic! I hope she gets help.

[@marigoldbeam5475]

They are all mean. Liars, con artists and manipulators.

[@marymcmullen5150]

The white people are also mean.

[@fionaanderson5435]

Horrifying that the catfish still doesn't get what she has done is so wrong.

[@dnm123203]

She is completely clueless. Painful to see the mom that lost her child hear someone say such foolishness. Broke my heart.

[@mmtmmt9481]

I was thinking this exactly, she had no insight on the harm that is caused despite the multiple examples given on the show. It does provide some insight into the mindset of a catfish and how they can justify their behavior and continue doing what they do. She does seem to be missing something. Not taking responsibility, they seem to have some kind of developmental or mental illness.

[@relocatetoEUROPE]

Prevention is better than cure. We need to educate the youth as to what can happen online.

[@Tokiohotel192]

Shes got some serious manipulative problems masking it with social anxiety. I mean she was trying to manipulate the audience

[@tetehl4731]

Im very sorry to the parents who lost their lovely daughter HOw come there is no punishment for these ahole catfish people. In my opinion it is a crime especially for those who lost their lives. This is really sad..

[@rita4missions]

Absolutely sad and sick. I am so sorry for the family and for their pain. I will be praying that they will be able to make changes to the law to help other and future laws

[@favouredblessed2631]

I think there is a movie or documentary about it I have watched it it's really 😔

[@ruthycantfail]

The interviewer did a fantastic job of not being judgemental towards Mariah, I would've found it really hard. So sad for the parents who lost their daughter. There are some really screwed up people out there eh? I listened to a mind boggling podcast about catfishing called Lovely Bobby, highly recommend

[@marigoldbeam5475]

Low self-esteem is such a problem.

[@Dazarabia522]

I really like this channel and the way the network deals sensitively with the subjects

[@charmainede-gannes5718]

He does not care about you, he cares about a figment of his imagination. Catfishers are people with real issues and the people who fall for it has issues as well.

[@deniseelsworth7816]

The first girl says she's asexual why does she pose as gd looking girl and flirt with boys or as a man flirting with a man? Asexual means not interested in sex. So why flirting. You don't have to do that to communicate.

[@bobsmith5441]

Yeah I hear you but lots of asexuals are romantic though another sub- sect aromantic and romantic ones definitely like flirting

[@tamarrajames3590]

I think she meant that she was Pansexual, the sexual identities in a relationship aren’t what she sees as important. You are correct on the meaning of Asexual, but I think she was trying to say she isn’t Male or Female, and she is attracted to both. She also feels comfortable in a Gay relationship as either a Male or Female. She has some deep seated problems, and may flirt etc. because to her all Love is Sexual…she may have been sexually abused in her early years. When a child is groomed into sexual relationships, and told it is Love, they will evidence sexual behaviours…and believe that is how Love is expressed.🖤🇨🇦

[@DoNotBeSheep4217]

You cannot protect people from emotional hurt - these are lessons learned. But id theft and fraud should absolutely be illegal and it shocks me that federal police forces around the world do not have a coordinated effort to stop what are organized gangs destroying people financially, at a point in their life where they cannot recover. The emotional pain will heal with the help of friends and family but the financial destruction has no path for recovery.

[@JessBlake2]

The legal experts are full of crap. It doesn't matter if scamming money and threatening are added to the catfishing behavior because there isn't justice for those behaviors either.

[@meilih2030]

I don't understand why you will be continuing a relatiosnhip with somebody that you don't see for real, not even in live webcam.

[@deniseelsworth7816]

Why do they think this is OK. Can't they see they are wrong in the head?

[@Tokiohotel192]

"I felt bad" was so disingenuous to me, she doesn't really care.

[@kevindurand3237]

About 7-8 years ago some friends were getting into Facebook and were getting a lot of Mexican women contacting them. My mate kept mentioning this one particular woman and after some weeks said he was going to fly her over(to England)as they were such a great match. One day we're drinking at his flat and he asks me to wait for a bit as he's going to his bank to wire her the money for the flight. He has one last look at her photo and goes to leave. 'Give us the phone here' I asked as I wanted to actually see how hot she was meant to be. After laughing my head off I said you better watch 'from dusk till dawn' as the photo was Salma Hajek, complete with the snake,out of the film. He didn't believe me until until he gave in and looked it up.Another kid I know, flew to the Philippines to meet his 'dream girl'. On arrival she's nowhere around till he's approached by what you call a catfish. She was around 20 years older and not the looker she pretended to be. But he says her attitude was 'ok, I'm not her , I've been found out but...will I do?! It's crazy out there guys.The dating game has changed a lot !

[@carolkrenn5754]

Catfishing also known as bullying. They do it with insight. Yep needs to be an offense. Disgusting when you really think about it.

[@heatherwhittaker6169]

What a sick world where people with no lives live in fantasy cocoons..if will only get worse with the internet addiction.

[@nancydrew1882]

With a best friend like that…..omg!!!!😳

[@SA-cb2it]

the guy in the white t shirt Mitch is so sweet 😢

[@beth-bi9yv]

Catfishing is definitely wrong. My heart breaks for all the victims. I sort of feel bad for Mariah as well.....Seems super insecure, she needs help.

[@tiana4102]

Very interesting. However, I've known since I was 6 years old (in the year 2000) that people I met online were likely not who they say they were. Even as a kid I knew this, these people are adults and fall for it, I just don't understand why.

[@myrashotton1362]

On the other hand, what makes them do it, they don't like themselves and society says you must be a certain colour, size with plenty of money and time to please them and themselves and they just plainly have nothng better to do than mess peoples' lives up.

[@yvonnesheehan9079]

Lovely lady keep it real and you will fine someone right for you when the time is right. Is will happen. Give life a chance

[@LittleKitty22]

Please don't make false promises. There are many of us who have never found someone, and we are not all hideous monsters.

[@millyday]

OMG! How sick these fisheries people are!

[@DaemlichesStueck]

When I was an overweight insecure teenager in the 90's I did some light catfishing... Whenever I'd spend the weekend at my dad's, he'd spend friday at the pool hall playing snooker. I'd go with him and use the computers with internet access there. I used to visit teen chatrooms and just make up people and pretend to be them. I would just talk to other people for one afternoon though. Nothing emotional involved, no conning them into anything. I just wanted to be someone else for a while and be liked. The thought that people might enjoy a casual conversation with actual me didn't occur to me back then.

[@ikr2377]

Wow

[@avdv8960]

That is messed up!!!!

[@enuma7]

And if nobody knows, GOD knows ! Never forget!

[@carrolinenewtonisaac3234]

Black lost young women this is sad

[@lucyw.7597]

I have zero sympathy...they all come out with the same crap. they watch the shows, they know what to say.. they enjoy it. that inst to be pitied, its to be despised. As long as they keep getting the 'oh poor you' response, there's no reason to stop. That young woman wont be stopping anytime soon

[@dianahiggins1397]

The environment she lived in rejected her ...living in New Zealand she was isolated

[@mariusvanc]

Catfishing will never be a crime, or if it is, it will be THE MOST SELECTIVELY enforced crime on the books. What's illegal catfishing? Almost never when it came to the first date from online dating, did the person in pictures show up. If you know what I mean. Is that catfishing? Is a 2 year old picture catfishing? Is a photo with makeup catfishing? Is a photo with filters catfishing? Is a professional/glam photo catfishing?

[@favouredblessed2631]

Oh so 😔, sad

[@chrisphoris2729]

20:00 Konstantinos Argyros is the name of this Greek singer!

[@logicdied6766]

Poor lad

[@lucyw.7597]

These people make me sick. ive watched a ton of the US catfish shows and ive yet to see a single solitary person who is actually sorry, or has clue of the damage theyve done.. or any who have had any comeback or consequence at all. They are all like the american girl, start off being self pitying, then they start smirking...and they dont stop..catching them doesnt seem to make any difference , they just carry on...becasue they enjoy it! they never say that either..im not sure how it can be legislated against really, its very difficult. but if these people at least got some sort of comeback they might think twice. 'i felt really bad'...no, you really didnt. or you wouldnt have done it. i dont care if you got bullied, i dont care if you were fat, i dont care if your wife left you...lying to entertain yourself at the expense of other people is inexcusable.

[@warriorprincessharmony]

We all use false identities online. There has to be a difference between 'I'm not using my real identity' and 'I've created a fake persona. Nothing about me is real.' Catfishing can't just be about using a false identity without caring about the intention of the person. I did this 'catfishing' thing, but my intention was never to fool the person I was defending. It was to fool his bullies. There's no way I was going to use my real names and photo online when I was defending someone who was being bullied online by all kinds of people no matter how 'moral' that sounds. It's just dumb. Especially if you'll also get doxxed or bullied for your appearance. Which I intuited was going to happen given the kind of things I'd seen online and my life experience getting bullied and maligned for my appearance and my small size. Unfortunately for me, I didn't think this was going to turn into a relationship. I went in with the intention of defending someone I never thought I'd meet in real life. I mean, he doesn't even live in my continent. So I wasn't even imagining anything real would ever come out of it. I've never been involved with anyone outside my country, leave alone continent. So my intention was to protect myself from the bullies and especially the narrow minded ones. But a few months into my online crime fighting adventures things started to change. The bullying became really intense. And I was determined that he would prevail over these stupid, self-absorbed. So I was talking to him directly, suggesting calming music, meditation, etc. I was now very focused on his well being. I never even thought about my profile picture, the avatar I'd created (it's not a photo of someone real) to hide my real identity being something that would feature in this whole thing. I was too focused on fighting against the misinformation his bullies were posting all over, and defending him, and trying to be as supportive as I could, to think about something as paltry as a picture. At some point, a tabloid mentioned my social media handle in an article about the lies and deceit that were going on. At that point I changed my profile picture and social media handle. I hadn't figured on being famous, so I wasn't going to just sit there and make myself findable. I stopped using my avatar /photo. I was now using edited photos of him. Talk about a one track mind. I don't think I've ever been so focused on a goal in my life before. The first time I revealed my identity to him was about a year later. Things had changed then. We were now in some kind of relationship that I hadn't foreseen. I mean, a girl can dream, but dreams don't always become reality. But, there we were. So I decided to come clean. I posted my photo on a different account. One with less activity. He posted something online and said something like "And suddenly I felt nothing". I was expecting something like that, but it was still painful because I thought that was because I'm not as beautiful as the profile photo I'd initially used. I'd never lied to him about anything else. So not revealing my real face and all my names online was the most criminal thing I did. Later on I created a platform where I could share with him my real life My photos, my family, my past. These are not things I'm ever going to share with the wider general public no matter what. I certainly didn't steal anyone's identity. The photo I was using was not of a real life human. I guess this kind of behavior might make me an untrustworthy person. But in the pursuit of this one goal, defending an innocent person I can't regret my actions. What I regret is the kind of pain & confusion that he might have felt that comes with realizing the person who supposedly loves you does not look how you'd like them to look. Or how you thought they did. And that is totally understandable. And would probably make you mistrust them. I get that now. But if you had a beautiful person in your life and they had an accident that disfigured their face, would you stop loving them? Obviously that's not a crime, but that's also vain and shallow. If somebody is using the visual identity of a cat or dog or horse online, that's catfishing too? No? It's not their real identity, is it? Catfishing as these experts are defining it, can't be a crime. What is criminal is identity theft and impersonation.

[@nolapavitt4257]

How sad

[@aishaluminsa6505]

The black lady is beautiful. If only new

[@rita4missions]

What beauty have to do with anything? She is sick, manipulative and evil. She needs psychological help

[@johannas.l.brushane2518]

On a plain photo perhaps. Posing as someone else with people on for instance Tinder while having no intention to get into arelationship is not so pretty. When the parents who told about the suicide of their daughter who was catfished by her friend they showed a quick glimpse of the expression which I read as contemp. So, no, not beautiful.

[@bobsmith5441]

Yeah she's cute but very amoral and likes the power of her illusionary fantasy world

[@bobbyjeanleblanc3620]

People that have been catfished are desperate and must be lonely. However, I don't understand how so many people can get con into the bullshit.

[@bobsmith5441]

You've answered your own question, having a 'real' connection when you're lonely, distressed and so unhappy in life makes you do stupid things

[@lucyw.7597]

if you treat people like shit you probably will be lonely. please dont blame the victims. you may not use the social media that a lot of people use, but for people that do, chatting over long periods of time isnt that unusual. Its not as if we go through our daily lives assuming every single stranger who's paths we cross is possibly a thief, or a conman..

[@KATLABELLE1]

OH BOY ... Am SO sorry ... Life's a bitch !!!!

[@jeanmitchell5834]

In the way these nasty people are respectable?.?

[@nolapavitt4257]

Geewiz really

[@maryannlammersen6536]

Catfishers and Catfishees?

[@nolapavitt4257]

Go do acting

[@annabambus6572]

1st move is known as, "love bombing" their target. CHARACTERISTICS OF NARCISSTIC DISORDER: Fantasist. Grandiose Exploitative. Lack of empathy. Using other people to prop up their own sense of importance. Self importance. They get adoration out of it. It is their oxygen, so they have to control the source of it through manipulation, cohesion, & control by psychological means They never take responsibility for anything. If they do take a little, it won't be sincere, but done angrily/aggressively, while, "walking out for good." Always the victim with endless justifications, self pitying, blame gaming/shifting, shaming, creating serious ailments, happenings, or suicide threats for sympathy, & to draw you back in. And when you cotton on to their behavior, finally becoming literally threatening to your reputation/name, life, family. In real life gaslighting enters the relationship, where you are manipulated by psychological means into doubting your own sanity. EG: You're imagining it/ too sensitive/ a snowflake/ It's all in your head/ You have issues etc. This can also happen online, but not often as you never meet the person face to face. However never being able to meet face to face for a myriad , usually plausible reasons is a major red flag. ESPECIALLY if this goes on & on. If you do meet up, & they continually need to be away for long stretches of time can be another big sign. Regarding the 1st person who speaks, the cat-fisher, see how many boxes she checks.Too many. She is self pitying & the victim all the time. She pulls the race card excuse, then anxiety, then gender confusion. There is no mention of her wondering if there is something wrong with her, & even trying to look for genuine help. Her 50/50 sense of wrongdoing is overtly entitled. She is actually attempting to gaslight. Her words SOUND somewhat remorseful but are confusing, & shocking, & b there is zero emotion for others in her. No physical signs of shame & sorrow for her victims. Even when listening to the story of suicide she shows no empathy, emotional pain, for someone else at all. My feeling in her case is that she is beautiful , with a lovely body, much better than many, who has no problems attracting men/women of all races, but when they come up against her self pitying, victim mentality they turn away. She is way too lazy to go through the enormous effort of intense love bombing, that lasts for a year, to a year & a half. They can't continue the pretense for much longer, or they will interject it as soon as you start doubting. So many ploys have to be use. So much easier, & therefore more self gratifying if you can do it on the internet, were you are the master pulling the strings behind the curtain. The absolute horror of the girl who committed suicide, the abuse of a young innocent man's identity which would then be trashed by anyone recognizing him, & not knowing the story, & then to find out it's the best friend. You see, it's much easier for a narcissist to stay behind the curtain, were they can unleash all their envy, ambition, desires vicariously through stolen identities. Though they do love personal recognition, and acknowledgement so badly they will go out , & get it, whether good, or bad. Their unbearable nightmare is to not be acknowledged no matter what the cost. This young cat-fisher wasn't even moved to watery eyes, let alone tears at the thought of this young girl's suicide, that was caused by someone doing exactly what she does. The emotional disconnect is eerie. She even tries to justify what she does by saying it brings someone some happiness etc, EVEN THOUGH SHE IS NOT REAL. Terrifying. And doing so by devastating someone who "loves them" & is finding this "happiness" , by "killing" them off through a motorcycle accident. The father who uses his own son's identity. THIS IS NARCISSISM in full display.

[@rita4missions]

I love what you wrote. It's so deep and truthful.

[@rita4missions]

I wish I could copy what you wrote it to read it and study it.

[@LittleKitty22]

Yes, all catfishes are narcissists and masters of manipulation. They don't realize they got something wrong with them, they think they are so great and that the victims are stupid for falling for them. They laugh at the victims - that's their enjoyment. A victim's suicide is a narcissist's ultimate goal, so when that happens they are proud of themselves. They are beyond disgusting!