Catfish Motivation

Towards the years, the motive for Catfish someone has become something more of a mean to engage in a romantic relationship with people. According to an article by Monitoring Software Company, “Catfishing may range from low degree crimes such identity theft to high degree crimes like child molestation and stealing” (XNSPY). It’s like with the progress of the Internet, people are also creating new ways to commit crimes. “Catfishing is popular amongst pedophiles and predators who use fake identities to lure children into engaging in indecent acts with them” (XNSPY). Creating friendly profile can make connections with their targets and let them come to them, that way it’s easier and has less risk of kidnapping children from parks where are many

“A popular form of catfishing is when someone fakes their occupation to steal your money” (XNSPY). Another way of stealing money is taking advantage of the people seeking for love online and make them believe that they are investing for their future when in reality they are trying to steal money from you with lies and false promises. Also, people seek online dating hoping to find a better match for them and when the connections are created they will share personal information, photos and videos as a way to prove the connection they have for each other or as a way to express the feeling they have for each other. “Many catfishers obtain your intimate photos and videos and leak them online or sell them to various pornographic sites” (XNSPY). No, always all is wonderful in online relationships because some people could keep a “relationship” with you for the goal of collect information that they could sell and make money with

“The Internet is a valuable educational tool — yet it can become a weapon when placed in the wrong hands and used for bullying and harassment” (Scheff). Sue Scheff believes that catfishing is an extended brand of online harassment because the “anonymity” that gives the Internet can be the opportunity to bully someone and not be caught. It also can be used to create fake profiles for a greater goal. Molly McHugh considers, “Sometimes, for whatever reason, people create faux social profiles in order to lure someone out somehow. Think of parents who caught a child predator posing as their daughter” (“It’s catfishing season! How to tell lovers from liars online, and more”). People or law enforcement would use “Catfishing” as a method to approach and catch malicious people who are looking to deceive children and commit crimes such as lure them to