The online dating environment is a place filled with hopeful
romantics who want to express their true selves in order to find the best match
possible, right? Are all online dating profiles filled with true identities?
Today it is said that 1 in 10 online dating profiles are fake[i].
Catfish, as we can see, are everywhere... not just in the ocean. The increasing
number of fake profiles and catfishing incidents prove this point.
The term "catfish", in the online dating context, was
popularized by a documentary series of the same name on the specialty channel Music
Television (MTV). This show also provided far greater insight into the world of
fake dating profiles and the frequency of catfishing. Statistics obtained from the series are as
follows.
- 73% of catfish use other people's photos for their profile
- 69% used a different name than their own
- 64% were female while 53% of victims had been female
- 25% lied about their occupation
- 24% lied about their sexual orientation
- 15% knew their victim in real life
- 11% of relationships that involved a catfish had mutual catfishing
- 11% lied about where they reside [ii]
An
interesting test was done for a peer-reviewed journal titled Fake Identities in
Social Media: A Case Study on the Sustainability of the Facebook Business
model. The three authors performed a test using Facebook and fake profiles.
Despite there being no legitimacy to the profiles, the following few tables
shows the information provided on the fake profiles and the results of the test
in terms of how many friends they gained in the three active weeks.
Date
|
Lena
|
Melissa
|
Laura
|
Ilse
|
David
|
Chris
|
Ferdiand
|
Mitzi
|
3/26/2012
|
94
|
76
|
55
|
56
|
46
|
53
|
11
|
48
|
4/11/2012
|
218
|
178
|
200
|
60
|
63
|
100
|
14
|
75
|
6/26/2012
|
237
|
204
|
272
|
66
|
74
|
111
|
20
|
99
|
The
paper found that certain aspects of the dating profile, including location,
work, education and interests all played a major role in how many friends each
profile gained[iii].
This
shows the ability of fake profiles to gain momentum and truly reach many
people. This is true in online dating as well. Fake profiles have the ability
to impact many people's lives and can have a far greater virtual and
psychological impact than most people realize.
A
story of catfishing that spread through the media in 2013 was one involving an
American football player, Manti Te'o. At the time, Te'o was a linebacker with
Notre Dame's Fighting Irish. He had claimed to have fallen in love with a woman
named Lennay Kekua, a "woman" he claimed to have met online. Months into
the relationship she died. However, she never really passed away because she
was not a real person. In actuality, Lennay did not exist, but someone else did
and that person was catfishing Te'o. Even to this day, the facts surrounding
who really perpetrated the hoax is unclear. While stories like this seem few
and far between, the act of catfishing is far more common than one could
imagine. Most simply don't receive the international attention that the Te'o
incident got and many more are most likely never reported.
As
one can see, the act of catfishing and the presence of people acting as catfish
online are common in today's society. Subsequent posts will look into what this
means for society, what we can do to stop the lying, the psychological impact
and the legal actions that can be or are being taken against Catfishing.
[i] Farr,
Christina (October 30, 2012). Online daters, be warned! 1 in 10 profiles are
scams, report reveals. Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/30/online-dating-scam/.
[ii] Fitzpatrick,
Molly (February 23, 2016). A statistical analysis of all four seasons of
'Catfish'. Retrieved from http://fusion.net/story/188777/catfish-tv-show-episodes/.
[iii] Krombholz, K., Merkl, D. &
Weippl, E. J Serv Sci Res (2012) 4: 175. doi:10.1007/s12927-012-0008-z
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