How To Avoid A Catfish Situation

What does it mean to be catfished?

Catfishing normally occurs on the dating sites and social network platforms when an individual pretends to be another individual so as to initiate a relationship under a false identity. In such a situation the victim is said to be catfished. The ‘fisher’ could be searching for a relationship or intending to do a criminal activity like stealing your money or identity.  Nobody would want to be a victim of this sort of cyberbullying and hence there is the need to protect ourselves from this act. Perhaps you are wondering what you can do to avoid finding yourself in a catfish situation. In this article, we are going to look at the various ways you can do to avoid being catfished.

1. Conduct Some Research On The Individuals.

If you are communicating with somebody on the social network or on the dating sites, ensure that you do good research about them. You can easily get to know who they are by searching for their information on Google. However, this will not give you the full details regarding the individual in question. In such a situation you can conduct a background check to find if these individuals are who they claim to be. You can use the services of a Brisbane private investigators to help you uncover the real identity of the individual in question.

2. See Their Online Profiles.

Make sure that you have a closer look at their online profiles; whether on the social networks or on the dating sites. There are some things you can see here that can help you to know whether they are real or fake.

These may include.

– Little details or no information provided at the ‘about’ section.

– Their information doesn’t add up.

– Profile pictures that look like stock photos.

3. Avoid Giving Away Your Sensitive Information.

Whenever chatting with a stranger, make sure you don’t reveal much information about yourself. This sound obvious, however, it might not be. Avoid giving out your personal information like your mobile number, your addresses, birthday, etc. You need to be mindful of this particularly if you are being catfished. Catfishers can easily steal your identity if they have your information so take care.

4. Avoid Sending Them Money.

Make sure that you don’t send money to an individual you met online. In most cases, catfishers are very convincing and will persuade you to send them money. If an individual you are chatting with online ask for you for money be warned or you will be catfished.

5. Request For A Videochat.

When chatting with an individual you just met on the social networks, request them to video chat you so that you can get to see who they are. This will let you know whether they are who they claim to be or if they are just catfishers. How they respond to your video chatting request will give you deep insight about them.

Having said the above, you now know how you can protect yourself from being trapped in a catfish situation. Take the above precautions anytime you are chatting with a stranger online.