# What Is Catfishing? Meaning, Signs and What to Do > Catfishing is deceiving someone online with a false identity, usually a fake profile built from another person's photos, a made-up name or an invented life. Also called: catfish, catfished Catfishing is deceiving someone online with a false identity, usually a fake profile built from another person's photos, a made-up name or an invented life. [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catfish) defines a catfish as a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes. The aim, as [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catfish) puts it, can be to deceive, manipulate or swindle, and fake profiles are a common way into [romance scams](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/romance-scam-warning-signs/). The word comes from *Catfish*, a 2010 documentary about an online relationship with a woman who pretended to be someone else. ## How catfishing shows up [Scamwatch](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/relationship-scams) and the [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams) describe much the same pattern: - Photos that look too professional, or blurry and unclear. - A new account with little personal information and few comments, likes or connections from other people. - A profile that doesn't match what they tell you about themselves. - Strong feelings very early, with constant messages and calls ([love-bombing](https://www.mirabu.app/glossary/love-bombing/)). - A quick push to leave the app for WhatsApp, LINE or another private chat. - Always a reason they can't meet or video chat: they're overseas, somewhere remote, or their camera isn't working. - Requests to keep the relationship secret, for intimate photos, or for money. ## An example of catfishing *This is an invented example.* You match with "Daniel", whose six photos all look like a magazine shoot. Within a week he says he's never felt this way, asks to move to WhatsApp and explains that video calls won't work from the offshore rig where he's posted. A reverse image search finds the same face on a fitness model's account under another name. ## Catfishing or just a flattering profile? Filters, good lighting and photos that are a few years old aren't catfishing. Catfishing is about a false identity: someone else's face, a name that isn't theirs or a life that doesn't exist. ## What to do if you think you're being catfished 1. **Reverse image search their photos** with Google Lens, Bing Visual Search or TinEye. The FTC and the UK's [Report Fraud](https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/romance-fraud/) both suggest checking profile pictures this way, and our guide on [how to reverse image search a person](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-reverse-image-search-a-person/) shows the steps. 2. **Search their name with the word "scam"**, as Scamwatch suggests, or the job they claim plus "scammer", as the FTC does. 3. **Don't treat no match as proof.** The [FBI](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203) warns that criminals use AI to create realistic images for fake social media profiles, and those faces belong to no one. 4. **Never send money, gift cards, crypto, ID documents or intimate photos** to someone you only know online, however long you've been talking. 5. **Don't confront them.** Keep screenshots, stop replying, block them and report the profile to the app. 6. **If you've paid or shared personal details,** call your bank or card provider, then report it: in the US at [ReportFraud.ftc.gov](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/) and to the FBI at [ic3.gov](https://www.ic3.gov/); in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to [Report Fraud](https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/) or on 0300 123 2040 (in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101); in Australia to [Scamwatch](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam). Mirabu's [Face Search](https://www.mirabu.app/face-search/) also shows where a photo appears online and its oldest copy, as a signal rather than proof. More in [how to tell if someone is catfishing you](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-catfishing-you/) and [how to spot a fake account](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-spot-fake-accounts-and-bots/). ## Sources - [Catfish](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catfish), Merriam-Webster - [Catfish](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catfish), Dictionary.com - [Relationship scams](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/relationship-scams) and [Report a scam](https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam), Scamwatch (ACCC) - [What to know about romance scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams), FTC Consumer Advice - [Romance fraud](https://www.reportfraud.police.uk/romance-fraud/), Report Fraud (City of London Police) - [Criminals use generative artificial intelligence to facilitate financial fraud](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203), FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, December 2024 --- Guides on this: - [How to Tell If Someone Is Catfishing You: 9 Signs](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-catfishing-you/) - [How to Reverse Image Search a Person, Step by Step](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-reverse-image-search-a-person/) - [How to Spot a Fake Account or Bot on Social Media](https://www.mirabu.app/blog/how-to-spot-fake-accounts-and-bots/) Related terms: [Love-bombing](https://www.mirabu.app/glossary/love-bombing/) · [Pig butchering](https://www.mirabu.app/glossary/pig-butchering-scam/) [Check it with Face Search](https://www.mirabu.app/face-search/) · [All terms](https://www.mirabu.app/glossary/)