"I was a little suspicious so I decided to do a reverse image search on the pictures he had sent me and it turns out that they were from a popular porn site" she told me later. Jenny said that she has been speaking with another man for over two weeks now and just by looking at his profile picture, she could tell that there was something off about him. In less than 10 messages, he had asked her for her phone number but when she texted him instead of calling her, he faded away leaving only broken promises in his wake.
Catfishing is not unique to Tinder or dating websites. The media has reported many cases of celebrities being taken 'hostage' by catfishers who befriend them on social media and then collect their private information. This is where the term 'honeytrap' comes from because these predators create very realistic fake profiles to befriend their future victims and take advantage of them when the time is right.
Catfishing can even be done by consenting adults who enjoy engaging in online role-play or fantasy before meeting face to face. The people at subreddit RedditRooms say that it is possible for someone to construct an entirely new identity and live out a whole other life online, taking you along with them if they choose to do so. There are many websites dedicated to helping people connect with others using aliases but there is always a chance that your partner could end up being one person while talking to someone else on another site.