To catch a catfish an online dating predator exposed

To Catch a Predator sometimes abbreviated to TCAP is an American reality television series in the television news magazine program Dateline NBC featuring confrontations with host Chris Hansen , partly filmed with hidden camera , of adult men arriving at a sting house to have sex with a minor and typically being arrested as a result. The minors are adults impersonating underage persons generally ages 12—15 in online chats. The series premiered in November , and featured 12 investigations in total held across the United States. The investigations were conducted as undercover sting operations with the help of online watchdog group Perverted-Justice. Since the third installment, law enforcement and other officials were also involved, leading to the arrests of most individuals caught.

Dating has changed a lot in the past few decades, for better and for worse. It's great that meeting someone new is so easy now, but the rise of online dating has also opened the door for a peculiar new scam called 'catfishing. Catfishing is an online con where someone assumes a new identity in order to seduce a stranger on the internet. Some people do this for companionship, because they feel like their own identity isn't good enough. Others do it in order to trap people into handing over money or services. Like the "Can you hear me? These con artists love to operate in shady corners of the internet, but might also approach you on totally trustworthy sites, like online dating platforms or social media.

When Max Benwell found out someone was using his photos to approach women online, he decided to track down the trickster — setting up a fake Instagram account and changing his gender on Tinder along the way. Illustrations by Gabriel Alcala. Design by Sam Morris and Juweek Adolphe. Warning: some of the language quoted in this piece may be triggering for people who have experienced abuse online. Last year, I found out someone was using my photos to catfish women.

Last Updated: November 18, References. This article was co-authored by Collette Gee. Prior to Collette's coaching business, she worked in the mental health field as a psych nurse which has helped inform her practice to create and sustain happy, healthy meaningful romantic relationships. There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 99, times.