When the Person You Are Dating On-line Turns Out to Be an Imposter By Miss Know It All

There was a time when people met at social events, parties, through associates, family or friends? Even if someone used a professional matchmaking service, there was always that face-to-face encounter. You could analyze the person’s behavior, observe his or her body language or see how that person interacted with others. Moreover, if you were fortunate enough, you would meet that individual’s friends or family members to get a better picture of the man or woman with whom you had a romantic interest.

Once you established a good rapport with that individual, courting and dating were next. This did not mean that a person did not end up with a jerk, but at least he or she made some sort of physical contact with that individual before becoming romantically involved. But when it comes to on-line dating, distortion can result when online romance comes into play.

Recently, I checked out a talk show, and the topic was “Catfish and On-line Dating.” Since I never associated catfish with dating, I decided to watch the program. Catfish is a common name for freshwater fish, which is a scavenger that has feelers or barbels extending from the upper jaw and in some species from the lower jaw, resembling a cat’s whiskers.

With on-line dating, catfish has a completely different connotation. A catfish is a person who uses someone else’s photo or identity to entice women and men on an on-line dating site; the catfish will browse through profiles on various social networks, hijack photos and personal data and use the information to seduce singles into his or her web of deceit.

Several guests on the talk show explained how a catfish had duped them. One woman developed a two-year on-line dating relationship with a man she never met, and he turned out to be a woman.  The clues were there: The catfish gave roughly ten reasons why he/she could not meet with her; some of the excuses given were, “A close relative of mine died; I suddenly came down with a sudden illness and have to have surgery; I was in a serious accident and will be incapacitated for the next several months.” Because people become so emotionally involved with their on-line partner, sometimes their common sense goes out the window.

The catfish, by nature, is a hunter, so it is understandable why experts referred to charlatans as catfish, because their main objective is to search for vulnerable singles, making certain they never meet them face to face and then play on their sentiments until they have psychologically scarred their prey.

It is always important to be mindful when you meet someone on an on-line dating site. Do not allow your longing to meet someone cloud your judgment. If a person refuses to meet you in person and comes up with too many pretexts, you may be dealing with a catfish.