How to Spot a Catfish
Catfish and scammers come in all shapes and sizes…
…and with various levels of sophistication.
I could write an entire book just on this one subject, but my aim here is to give you the awareness and the tools needed to notice the red-flags and to check out these suspicious profiles.
How to Identify Romance Scammers: A Comprehensive Guide
Online dating and social media apps give people many opportunities to connect and form meaningful relationships. However, it has also opened the door for romance scammers – individuals who exploit others’ emotions and trust for financial gain. Identifying these scammers is crucial to protecting oneself and others from falling victim to their deceitful schemes. Here are some practical steps and tips to help identify romance scammers.
1. Scrutinise Their Profile
Too Good to be True: Scammers often create profiles that seem almost perfect. They might use overly attractive photos and claim impressive achievements or high-status jobs. If the profile seems too good to be true, it’s worth investigating further.
Inconsistent Information: Look for inconsistencies in their profile information. Scammers often make mistakes when fabricating details. Pay attention to any discrepancies in their stories, job history, or personal details.
Celebrities are NOT in Love with You: This may come as no surprise, but celebrities do not randomly contact people, or fans, and strike up relationships with them. I cannot stress this enough – no matter how convincing it seems, it is a fake profile, a fraudster out to scam you. I have personally investigated cases where victims have genuinely believed that they are in an online relationship with a celebrity and have sent large amounts of money to the likes of ‘Tom Cruise’, ‘Keanu Reeves’ and ‘Post Malone’. In one case, after speaking to the police, the victim still would not believe that the celebrity she had fallen for was actually a fraudster – that’s how convincing the scammer was.
Photo Clues: Look at the details in their photos for clues – not just their face, but their clothing and objects that don’t match what they are telling you;
For example, look at the type of electrical sockets on the wall, is there a ceiling fan, is there any writing on signs, shops and posters that you can see? Do these items match those of the country where the fraudster claims to be? What else is in view in the photos? Are any buildings in view? Are cars driving on the correct side of the road? Are the photos generated by Ai (artificial intelligence)?, etc.
We have a seperate article which explains in detail how you can check and analyse their photos, here.
2. Analyse Communication Patterns
Fast Progression: Romance scammers tend to move the relationship forward quickly, this is called Love Bombing. They may express strong emotions and a desire for a serious relationship within a short period. No matter how much you would like it to be true, we all know that genuine relationships typically develop at a more gradual pace. Several of the scripts that the fraudsters follow have set timescales and goals, such as sometimes waiting two weeks before mentioning anything to do with money matters.
Moving Messaging to WhatsApp or other Platform: Dating sites automatically monitor the messages between members to look for specific words and phrases that fraudsters use. The fraudsters know this and are usually very keen to move you on to WhatsApp or similar messaging platforms so that they don’t get identified and have their account shut down by the dating site.
Avoiding Personal Interaction: Scammers often have excuses for why they can’t meet in person, such as being in the military, working on an oil rig, or traveling for business. Be cautious if they consistently avoid video calls or face-to-face meetings.
Poor Grammar and Language: Many romance scammers operate from non-English speaking countries. Look out for unusual phrases, poor grammar, or language that doesn’t match their supposed background. Religious terms are very often a red flag – using phrases like ‘praise the Lord’, talking about God, the church or Jesus are ways that the fraudsters try to make themselves look more trustworthy.
3. Detect Financial Red Flags
Requests for Money: This is the most significant red flag. Scammers eventually need to ask for money, often citing emergencies like medical issues, legal troubles, or travel mishaps. Be highly suspicious if someone you’ve never met in person asks for financial assistance. Don’t under any circumstances send them money and don’t even consider taking out a loan to help them out. It’s guaranteed to be a scam.
Inconsistent Financial Stories: Pay attention to their financial stories. If they claim to be wealthy or have a high-paying job but frequently talk about financial problems, this is a red flag. Also watch out for them talking about their amazing investment opportunities, sending you screenshots of their fake apps and bank accounts to show you how much money they have made in such a short time.
Crypto and Bitcoin: There are many types of crypto currency, with Bitcoin being the best known. Fraudsters like to have their victims send them money using crypto currency as it is harder to trace and can’t easily be recovered in the same way that a bank transaction could be.
Western Union and iTunes Gift Cards: A little bit old-school nowadays, but still very prevalent is the fraudster asking for you to send cash via an International money service, with Western Union being the most popular way. Also, they may ask for you to use gift cards to send money, such as Apple’s iTunes gift cards – they don’t need you to send the gift cards to them, they will instead ask you to give them the code number from the gift cards, this allows them to remotely cash it in.
Insurance Fraud: Growing in popularity with the fraudsters is insurance fraud. Once the fraudster realises that you don’t have any money, or they have already taken everything you had, they will suggest that you take out an insurance policy on something and then make a false claim against it. Usually they will tell you that it is a win-win situation as it helps them and doesn’t cost you anything. Except that you would have just committed insurance fraud and could end up in court and black-listed from getting insurance in the future
4. Do Your Research
Reverse Image Search: Traditionally, web sites like Google Reverse Image Search, Yandex, FaceCheck and PimEyes can be used to check if their profile pictures appear elsewhere on the internet. A Reverse Image Search is where you upload a photo to the one of these online search engines and it will scour the Internet for matching images. Scammers often use photos stolen from websites or social media accounts, and this method can reveal where they took them from. However, Reverse Image Searching is getting less reliable nowadays with Artificial Intelligence (Ai) being able to create photos and videos from scratch. See our separate How To post on this subject here.
Search Their Details: Perform a thorough online search of their name, user ID, email address, telephone number, job details, and other personal information they provide. If their information doesn’t add up or you find reports of others being scammed by someone with the same details, proceed with caution. You can usually do this simply using Google, but make sure to enclose the text in quotes, like this “mrfraudster@mailprovider.com” or “+63 7654 34567”, enclosing the information in quotes ensures that Google searches for that exact phrase and not just search for parts of it.
5. Trust Your Instincts and Seek the Opinion of Others
Listen to Your Gut: If something feels off about the relationship, trust your instincts. Scammers are skilled manipulators, but your intuition can often sense when something isn’t right.
Get a Second Opinion: Discuss your online relationship with trusted friends or family members and listen to what they have to say. They might notice red flags that you’ve overlooked or provide a different perspective on the situation – it can be much easier for them to see, as they aren’t emotionally involved.
6. What if it’s a Real Person?
If the suspected fraudster is a real person, you’ve actually met them and gone on dates with them, then it becomes very difficult to know what they are up to until they show their true colours. At some point the fraudster will say they need money for something, perhaps a ‘short-term loan’ supposedly until a business deal is completed or until problems with his bank are sorted out. Asking for money may well be the first red flag that the victim sees.
Most people remember the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, where three victims were collectively conned out £600,000 by a man they had met through a dating app; Shimon Hayut. The three victims had gone on multiple dates and luxury holidays with Hayut, actually seeing him with the appearance of being wealthy and leading a very exciting lifestyle – but it all turned out to be a scam, with Hayut using money from his previous victims to fund the holidays and lifestyle with his current victim.
At the time, there is very little his victims could have done in that situation to find out he was a conman. With hindsight each of them could have carried out background checks and maybe it would have flagged up that Hayut wasn’t actually, as he claimed, the son and heir of the billionaire Lev Leviev, of LLD Diamonds. Simon Hayut had even changed his name to Simon Leviev to gain credibility.
7. Things You Can Do To Check Them Out
Our two articles linked below will show you how to check somebody’s photos and profile information in order to help you identify whether they are a fraudster or not.
How To Check their Profile Photos
How to Check their Personal Information
Don’t forget to check out our other very useful ‘How To Articles’ in the menu at the top of each page.