Catfish dating: dangers and precautions for online romance

Feed the Children: Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

Catfish Dating

This information is in reference to what is known as catfish dating. According to 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." (2015, p. 1)

Catfish dating is dangerous for many involved and those that meet online are not what they appear. Catfish dating has resulted in many disappointments and many dangerous situations for those attempting to date online and in many areas including economic, financial, emotional, and personal dangers.

Precautions

When dating online there are certain precautions that should be taken including an insistence that the individual communicate via the telephone or using a chat website such as Skype so that the individual can determine who they are actually talking to.

Some precautions for individuals attempting to date online include checking the individual's identity through the use of a web search on Google or Yahoo.

Checking the individual's identity on sites such as Facebook are use in helping to determine if the individual's identity is a real identity or if they are using some other identity to trap unsuspecting individuals.

There are many reasons that people conceal their identity online and many of these reasons involve financial scams.

Intent of Publication

The intent of these writing in terms of publishing is to have this information available in print via a website for the purpose of informing the public of the problems associated with catfish dating. These problems include those becoming emotionally attached to someone claiming to be a woman or man but in reality being other gender or either cross or transgender. Once the individual falls in love with this person and becomes emotionally attached the individual is often trapped in a relationship that is altered from the normal healthy relationship.