Back when I was a young, immature, ignorant preteen, I decided to take it upon myself to make a Facebook profile. My mom would not let me have one of my own until I was in high school and I desperately wanted one. Fortunately for me, I had my own computer, my parents had one in our basement, and I had a phone that could go online. All of my friends had one, so I believed I needed one. Little did I know how much I would hate looking back on it twenty years later.
I believe I was around 12 or 13 when I first created the profile. I was really feeling down on myself and during that junior high age, you get really self-conscious. I decided I was going to make a fake profile so that I could be online without my parents knowing, but it’s not like they had a Facebook anyway.
I am not giving away the name of the profile, as I definitely added people from my hometown and began conversing with them. They guys, and even some girls, would compliment the person in the picture, sayinghow pretty she was. I felt like it was coming straight at me though. It made me feel so good, I didn’t know how or if I was going to stop.
My persona also found herself in a few relationships. The first one was with a guy who was a total babe. The only bad part was that we could never meet in person or he would know I was fake. I kept an archive of pictures of this girl because her face was all over the internet. If a guy ever asked for a picture of me that wasn’t on Facebook, I was ready. I can’t remember how long we “dated” for, but I moved on from guy to guy to guy.
I think I kept this charade up for at least a year. I was dodging questions of if I was real or not. I even attempted to try and meet someone to convince them I was the girl. I’m sure the poor dude could tell that I was definitely not the girl and he spent the afternoon with some stranger. I don’t think anybody really knew, or if they did, they did not say anything to me. I was also not in the time of video chatting, so I never had to worry about people asking to Skype with me.
When the last part of eighth grade rolled around, I was starting to date someone that I really really liked at the time, as me not my persona. I figured that if I was to continue with the fake profile, it would put a damper on my relationship with the real guy I was with.
I made an announcement on her profile saying that she was really sick and deleting her Facebook account to focus on her health. For those that had the number, I just never answered them back. I also got in a lot of trouble with my parents, as they somehow found out about it and were pretty upset with me. Looking back on it, I am pretty upset with myself. I think about the girl whose pictures I stole, and I wonder if she was affected by my wrongdoings in anyway. Now, I am much more happy with myself and I don’t need a fake account to make me feel good.
Here are some ways to spot a catfish:
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If you suspect someone may be a catfish, reverse Google search an image or two of theirs. If they only have one picture, but say they’ve been active for a few years, they’re likely a catfish.
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If they ask you for money.
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If they don’t have any posts on their profile for their birthday or have hardly any pictures with friends or family.
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Try to video chat or Skype with them. If not, at least get them over the phone. If they avoid it, they’re a catfish.
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Watch out for the 3 Cs; cancer, car crash, or coma. If someone you suspect tells you any one of these, they are most likely a catfish.