Guide To Protecting Yourself From Online Catfishes

Just incase you aren’t aware, in the words of the Urban Dictionary, a Catfish is “someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.”. Sometimes harmful but potentially dangerous, Catfishing is no doubt happening to someone you know as you’re reading this, so don’t let yourself or your family be a victim and discover what you can do today to protect yourself.

Source: Urban Dictionary.

Did you know that 1 in 5 teenagers who regularly log onto the internet say they have received an unwanted sexual communication. (Only 25% told their parents). Shocking isn’t it? And a huge eye opener to the threats of the internet. Clearly, the catfish phenomenon is becoming a worldwide issue and you can even uncover someone’s identity on the popular MTV reality show, Catfish. This option isn’t available for us here in Britain so what can you do in order to uncover yours or your family’s online romance?

Reasons for Catfishing

First things first, what’s at the root of the problem? It all comes down to the individual’s purpose of pursuit. These can be a range of things but to narrow it down, here are the top 4 reasons to be aware of.Money – The ability to manipulate others into handing over money has never been easier with advanced online banking. The online companion will take advantage, using emotional leverage and sympathy to get what they want. Be careful, this could even lead to fraud or theft.

Personal Issues – Using someone else’s identity is a common coping mechanism for someone who has, or is experiencing, bullying and self esteem issues.

Revenge – It’s possible that the quest for revenge has lead someone to turn to catfishing you or your family. So before you look elsewhere, keep your suspicions close to home. Is there anyone you or your family have gotten on the wrong side of? Could someone from your past be a threat?

Sexual Predators -The most dangerous form is someone of a predatory nature. Sexual predators will cross the relationship into the real world when the inevitable question of “can we meet up?” will be asked.

What can you do?

If your situation is beyond a simple solution, to catch a catfish you must first cast a line to them. Draw them in and analyse their stories, their true personality and their hidden agendas. Re read your conversations, look out for white lies, odd questions and overall abnormality. If you want to catch your son or daughter’s online romance, this can be done with technology such as the Chat Stick which will search their Windows laptop and computer for online conversations, read for analysis. This is the perfect tool for confirming your suspicions.

Once your suspicions are confirmed and even if they’re not, confront the person in question. Simply ask to video chat to confirm their true identity and whether they are indeed a Catfish. Offer to Skype them and convince your loved ones to do the same. It helps to talk openly to your son or daughter about the suspect during the early days of investigation, drawing out all the information you can. Of course, a Skype call is usually declined which leads to a dead end. So now is the time to take your investigation into your own hands and discover the truth.

Get Technological

Hook your catfish in with a collection of substantial evidence you can find from the use of modern spy equipment. With our products you can even get their windows account without a password!! The Windows Master Key gives you the access you require to look through your online acquaintance’s account or your family’s account. This will help unravel all kinds of secrets and mysteries you’ve been waiting to unfold. Look out for photo evidence and interesting conversations with others.

We all know there’s a darker side to social media, the side of fake profiles, catfishes and predators. Get an insight into the suspects social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube amongst many more. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to stalk their pages all day long and we have a solution in the form of a USB. Once plugged in, the USB known as the Social Media Web Tracker holds a software that as soon as it’s uploaded onto the Windows PC, logs the information and emails it to you.

Obtain Closure

Begin reeling in your catfish with the evidence you have collected. Either it’ll show them to be harmless and of no particular threat or the evidence will have proven your suspicions to be correct. Whatever you may find, your questions will have been answered so you can get closure and move on from this online relationship. Take your new found evidence as a good outcome and use it as a valuable life lesson.

The issue of presenting the evidence to your loved ones may be the most difficult part of this investigation as they will soon realise you’ve been invading their privacy. In this circumstance, always remember, wouldn’t you want to know if it was you who was being catfished? Of course you would! It may be a shock but your family will be grateful for the outcome.

After completing your investigation we hope that you intend to be more careful, advise your loved ones to be more careful and think twice about starting an online relationship. After all what’s so bad about meeting people in real life anyway? That’s where the best experiences are, not through a computer screen.

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