What is catfishing? Why people do it, and how to check

Most matches are exactly who they say they are, and a few plain checks help you spot the ones who aren't before a first date.

Short answer: Catfishing is pretending to be someone else online, usually with a made-up name and another person's photos, to deceive someone you meet on a dating app or social media. Merriam-Webster defines a catfish as "a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes". Catfish interviewed by researchers often named loneliness or a wish to escape their own life. Others are after money or private photos, and one of the authors of a 2023 study wrote that for some, harm could be the goal. The word comes from the 2010 documentary Catfish. To check a match, run a reverse image search on their photos and ask for a video call, though video can be faked, so treat the call as one check among several. If they ask for money before you have met, stop.

What catfishing means

The dictionaries agree on the core idea. Merriam-Webster's verb sense is "to deceive (someone) by creating a false personal profile online". Cambridge Dictionary marks the word as informal and calls it "the practice of pretending on social media to be someone different, in order to trick or attract another person". Dictionary.com adds the motive: a catfish assumes a false identity "as to deceive, manipulate, or swindle."

The FBI and FTC romance scam pages quoted here don't use the word catfish. They describe the money version. The FBI's romance scams page says: "In romance scams, a criminal uses a fake online identity to gain a victim's affection and trust." The FTC says romance scammers "create fake profiles on dating sites and apps or contact you through popular social media sites like Instagram or Facebook."

Not every catfish is after money. Researchers call deception without financial fraud "social catfishing".

Kinds of catfishing, by what the person wants

The first three rows come from interviews with 27 catfish, reported by University of Queensland researchers in July 2018, and the last from a 2023 study that linked catfishing to sadism, a trait rather than a stated motive. Evita March, one of that study's authors, wrote that "for some, harm could be the goal". The money and photo rows follow FBI and FTC guidance.

Why is it called catfishing?

The name comes from Catfish, a 2010 documentary about Nev Schulman's online relationship with a woman who pretended to be someone else online. Merriam-Webster says the film was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, and that the title comes from a story told by that woman's husband. He explains that cod were once shipped live in tanks from Alaska to China, and says "there are those people who are catfish in life. And they keep you on your toes."

Merriam-Webster adds a caveat. "As subsequent investigation has uncovered, the catfish tale is much older than the film," it says. The tale appears in an essay by the British journalist Henry Nevinson, published as part of a collection in 1913. It also says the tale "appears to be a fabrication, as cod were not shipped across oceans in tanks". So the film made the online meaning popular, but the fish story behind it is probably untrue.

The film led to an MTV series, Catfish: The TV Show, which debuted in 2012, according to Dictionary.com. Merriam-Webster added the online sense of catfish in its May 2014 Collegiate Dictionary update, according to InfoDocket and the Bangor Daily News, both on May 19, 2014.

Why do people catfish?

Two Australian-led studies give the clearest answers, and a third adds one finding.

The first asked catfish themselves. Eric Vanman of the University of Queensland described it in The Conversation in July 2018. The team "recruited 27 people from around the world who self-identified as catfish for online interviews." In that group:

• "Loneliness was mentioned by 41% of the respondents as the reason for their catfishing."
• Unhappiness with their looks came up in around one-third of responses.
• "More than two-thirds of responses mentioned a desire to escape".
• "Some reported using false identities or personas to explore their sexuality or gender identity."

"Many reported feelings of guilt and self-loathing around their deceptive behaviour," Vanman wrote, and more than one-third wanted to confess to the people they had fooled. From what he called a small survey, his reading was that catfish "aren’t universally malicious."

The second study measured traits. Lauder and March, at Federation University Australia, surveyed 664 participants for a paper in Computers in Human Behavior in March 2023. In The Conversation, Evita March wrote: "We found people who perpetrated catfishing behaviours had higher psychopathy, higher sadism, and higher narcissism. Sadism in particular was a very strong predictor of catfishing behaviours." She also wrote that men were more likely than women to catfish. In the paper, that gap held at first, but gender "became a nonsignificant predictor upon the inclusion of the Dark Tetrad variables", so the traits mattered more than gender. The answers were self-reported, and a trait link does not show the trait causes the behavior.

A 2020 study of 1,107 adults by Mosley and colleagues, in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, also found "men are more likely to perpetrate" and women more likely to be targets.

How common is it?

• Perception. "A clear majority of online daters (71%) say it is very common for people on these platforms to lie about themselves to appear more desirable," according to a Pew Research Center survey of US adults in October 2019.
• Scams. In a Pew survey from July 2022, 52% of people who had used dating sites and apps said they had come across someone they thought was trying to scam them. Among men under 50 who had used them, the figure was 63%.
• Catfishing by name. Norton's 2024 survey says "nearly a third (30%) of Americans who have used a dating app said they had been catfished by someone". It is a vendor survey of 444 adults who had used a dating app, fielded in March 2024.

People filed 23,159 confidence and romance fraud complaints and reported about $929 million ($929,287,469) in losses in 2025, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 annual report. IC3's category also covers people tricked by someone posing as family or a friend, so it is wider than dating.

"Nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it started on a social media platform," according to an April 2026 FTC Data Spotlight. People reported losing $298 million to romance scams that started on social media in 2025, according to the same FTC Data Spotlight.

A worked example

Jess and Sam are invented for this example.

Jess matches with Sam, who says he is a physical therapist new to her city. His photos show a hike and his dog. The chat is easy, and he remembers what she tells him.

Two weeks in, Jess suggests coffee. Sam is busy with a work trip. She suggests a quick video call instead. His camera isn't working, he says, but next week for sure. Next week there is another reason.

Nothing he has said is alarming on its own, but Jess saves one of his photos and runs it through a reverse image search. The same hiking photo shows up on another person's public page, under a different name, posted years earlier.

She doesn't confront him. She takes screenshots of the chat and the profile, reports the profile in the app and stops replying. No money changed hands.

Signs you may be talking to a catfish

One sign alone can be innocent. A few together deserve a closer look.

1. They always have a reason not to meet. The FBI says to "Beware if the individual promises to meet in person but then always comes up with an excuse why he or she can’t."
2. They won't do a phone or video call. Tinder's safety tips say to be wary of anyone who won't talk on a phone or video call, because "they may not be who they say they are."
3. Their photos appear elsewhere under another name. The FTC calls that a sign of a scam.
4. The story ends in a request for money. The FTC says romance scammers "make up a story and ask for money."
5. They ask for private photos. The FTC says some scammers "trick people into sending nude photos, then threaten to send the images to their social media contacts unless they pay."

The longer versions are in how to tell if a dating profile is fake and signs of a romance scammer.

How to check a match is real

• Reverse image search their photos. The FTC says: "Do a reverse image search of the person’s profile picture. Is it associated with another name or with details that don’t match up? Those are signs of a scam." Google Lens and TinEye both show other pages where a photo appears. Our guide to reverse image searching a dating profile walks through it.
• Search their name and story. The FBI suggests you "Research the person’s photo and profile using online searches to see if the image, name, or details have been used elsewhere."
• Ask for a video call, and keep checking. Tinder says "A phone or video call can be a useful screening tool before meeting." But IC3 warned in December 2024 that criminals use generative AI to make videos that convince people a contact is real, and the FBI says "Videos and photos are not proof that people are who they claim to be." A call helps but doesn't settle things alone.

If the checks come back clean, plan the date with our first-date safety guide.

Is catfishing illegal?

Usually not by name, but what a catfish does can be. The only US statute we found that uses the word is Oklahoma's 2016 Catfishing Liability Act (12 O.S. § 1450), a civil law. It lets a person sue when someone knowingly uses their name, photograph or likeness on social media to create a false identity without their consent. The purpose must be to harm, intimidate, threaten or defraud that person, and use whose sole purpose is satire or parody is excluded. Crimes turn on conduct: federal wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343, United States Code 2024 edition) covers getting money "by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises" by wire, radio or television. Under section 33.07 of the Texas Penal Code (online impersonation; Texas Legislative Council text, read October 12, 2026), it is an offense to use another person's name or persona to create a web page or post messages on a social networking site or other website. The use must be without consent and meant to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten. This is general information, not legal advice. The full version is in is catfishing illegal.

What to do if you think you are being catfished

You don't need proof to act.

1. Stop sending money and stop replying. The FBI says: "If you've been victimized, stop all contact with the scammer immediately."
2. Keep the messages. Screenshot the chat and the profile, and keep receipts.
3. Report the profile to the app or site where you met.
4. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FBI at ic3.gov.
5. Call your bank or the payment company right away if you sent money, gift cards or crypto.
6. If someone threatens to share private photos, don't pay and don't delete the chat. The FTC says to report it to law enforcement. Adults can get help removing images at StopNCII.org.
7. If you are in danger, call 911.

If the person targeted is under 18, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, known as NCMEC, says to block the account but "DO NOT DELETE your profile or messages". Report it to the CyberTipline run by NCMEC, and use Take It Down, a free service that helps remove nude images taken of someone under 18. The FBI's sextortion page tells victims: "You are not the one who is breaking the law."

A next step before you meet

Most matches will pass every check here. If you'd like to look up a match's public side yourself, TrulyWho starts from their email or phone number and, in about a minute, shows their public accounts, photos and work, and it can check whether a photo you add appears on other pages. It leaves out dating and adult sites, and it isn't a consumer reporting agency, so it can't be used for jobs, credit or housing.

Frequently asked questions

What does catfishing mean?

Catfishing means creating a false identity online, usually a fake profile with someone else's photos, to deceive a person you meet on a dating app or social media. Merriam-Webster's verb sense is "to deceive (someone) by creating a false personal profile online". When the goal is money, US agencies such as the FBI and the FTC call it a romance scam.

How do you find out if someone is catfishing you?

Run a reverse image search on their photos with Google Lens or TinEye and see whether the same pictures appear under another name. Then search their name and details, and ask for a video call. A match who always has an excuse not to meet or call deserves a closer look. Because video can now be faked with AI, use the call alongside the photo checks.

Why is it called catfishing?

The term comes from the 2010 documentary Catfish, about Nev Schulman's online relationship. In the film, a man tells an old story about cod shipped live in tanks and compares some people to catfish that keep you on your toes. Merriam-Webster says the tale is much older than the film and appears in an essay by Henry Nevinson published in a 1913 collection. It also says the tale is probably untrue.

Is catfishing illegal?

Sometimes. Oklahoma's 2016 Catfishing Liability Act (12 O.S. § 1450) lets people sue over a social media identity knowingly faked with their name or photos, without consent, to harm or defraud them. Federal wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343, 2024 edition) covers getting money "by means of false or fraudulent pretenses" by wire, radio or television. Under section 33.07 of the Texas Penal Code (online impersonation; Texas Legislative Council, read October 12, 2026), using another's name or persona on a website or social network without consent to harm or defraud is an offense. This is general information, not legal advice.

What is the difference between catfishing and kittenfishing?

A catfish uses a false identity: another name, other people's photos or an invented life. Kittenfishing is a real person flattering themselves with old or edited photos and an inflated profile. Dictionary.com says kittenfishers "are not assuming a full-fledged false identity as with catfishing". Our guide to kittenfishing covers the signs and what to check.