Computer Fundamentals: Exploring the Issue of Catfishing

This report, titled "Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing," delves into the pervasive issue of catfishing within the realm of computer fundamentals and social media. It begins with an introduction to catfishing, highlighting its prevalence and the anonymity it provides, which can be misused. The report explores the various motives behind catfishing, including gender exploration and financial gain through identity theft, citing real-life scenarios and the exploitation of dating applications. It also touches upon the use of catfishing by authorities to combat crime. A reflection section shares the author's perspective on the issue, emphasizing the importance of awareness and vigilance on social media. The report includes facts about catfishing, such as the fabrication of profiles and the common motives of revenge and loneliness, and concludes by stressing the importance of awareness and caution when sharing personal details online. References to relevant sources are provided.

Running head: COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS
Computer Fundamentals
Name of the Students:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1[XXXXXX]
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing
Introduction:
The technology is developing with leaps and bound and with every passing days new and better
ways are being invented for the enhancement of the system or the business. One such technology is the
social media. Social media is a platform where one can share their ideas, information, interests of the
career and numerous other things. The social media is the platform where numerous things can be
addressed with or without revealing ones identity. This is one of the major discredit of the social media or
the media as well. The unanimity can be utilized in an incorrect manner as well. One such issue if the
“Catfishing”. This is one of the major issues in the social media now a days. There are numerous ways in
which the social media can be misused but Catfishing can be a huge problem for the people who have a
good image of them in the social media (Larson p. 174). However trolling is quite in use when it comes to
the social media. This is done over the internet where inflammatory posts are framed for a particular
individual just to upset them. In order to hide their identities over the social networking sites, these trolls
makes use of the Catfishing. They abuse the ones over internet repeatedly and the victims are either
affected by the social media frauds, romance frauds on dating applications, deceptions and numerous
others. This is a very serious issues and in this report we will discuss about these issues in depth and how
it affects the people in real life. Certain facts regarding the Catfishing and the social media abuse is
discussed here as well.
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing

2[XXXXXX]
How does the Issue Affect in Real Life
Some of the above motives are explained below:
There are numerous motives that has been identified for the Catfishing over the social media.
Often it is seen that the people just in order to explore the gender hide behind the puppet of being
something else. That is, a girl may pretend to be a boy or the vice versa just for fun or exploration of the
gender. This can have a devastating effect if one connects with Catfisher on innocent notes. They are
trapped, and can be emotionally exploited just for abuse.
However, sometimes Catfishing leads to the financial gain as well. The fake identities can be
created in the name of the real people for stealing money over the social media. A real life scenario has
helped in identifying this situation as well. A social media profile has been created by three women who
have successfully convinced the victims and pocketed around $3000. Once the job was done, the profile
was removed, leaving no trace.
The dating applications are often used by these frauds who pretends to be a real person to play
with people’s emotions. These catfishers uses the process of the identity theft in order to convince the
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing
Catfishing:
Catfishing is hiding behind a puppet and acting as a genuine on the social networking sites. They
are the ones who believe in playing with the prey. They gain trust with the help of the fake
identity over the social networking sites such that traps can be generated for the people. The
people, unaware are forced to be in the trap where they are used and abused. The more a
person tries to get to the identity of the Catfishers more trapped they are. The main victims of
the Catfishing are the celebrities. They have to face these in issues on a daily basis. Numerous
reports has been identified where the celebs are targeted openly over the twitter and the
Instagram (Lamphere, Renee and Kweilin, p. 485).
Motives behid catfishing:
Idnetity theft
Misuse of the information
Financial benefits
Revenge, Boredom

3[XXXXXX]
victim. They make use of the real-life photos of the people, along with real-life location, degrees,
professions and many more. It is very difficult to identify them over these dating applications. The gay
and the lesbian are often subjected to the cyberbullying by the Catfishers, which is responsible for the
degradation of their mental health (Lauckner, p. 291).
Women Men
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Catfisher
Catfisher
Figure 1: Catfishing on the dating site
Source: Google image
All though there are numerous ways in which the technologies can be used Catfishing can be
used as a way to prevent the criminals. Authorities can be use the Catfishing to trap the criminals. Like
the way NBC did on the live documentation of the “To Catch the Predators”. They invited people to
establish sexual conduct with the minor which is an illegal act and surprizing there were many who
accepted the offer and they were immediately arrested for this. This is one of the good usage of the
Catfishing amongst all the bad ones.
Reflection upon the issue:
I think that the Catfishing is a weapon which can be used in both the ways, one for the good, and
the other one is for the bad. The misuse or the bad use is more reflected as the complaints and the bad
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing

4[XXXXXX]
experiences are more than the good deeds. As there are signs of alarms everywhere, identifying the
warnings are important as one is active on the social media. We are active on the social media almost all
the day, hence, noticing the red sign is essential. At times, these alarms can be false, but prevention is
always better than cure.
Facts about Catfishing:
Here are certain facts about the Catfishing which is worth discussing:
1. The American dating websites profiles are fabricated.
2. The common motive for the Catfishing is revenge, boredom and loneliness, where the Catfishers
are usually of low self-esteem and are compulsive liars.
3. Catfishers are the ones with history; that is they are either an abuser or have been brutally abused
in the past.
4. 64 percent of the Catfishers are women.
5. Catfishers are often related to the cyber bullying which is one of the common reason of
depression amongst the teenager in the contemporary world.
Figure 2: Statistical Analysis of the people catfishers on the social media
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing

5[XXXXXX]
Source: Google Image
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that the information technology which is one of the most important
invention of all time and is almost related to anything at present, is misused. Catfishing, which is a
prevailing issue can be treated with the help of the awareness and staying alert. However, the best way to
stay safe is by not sharing the personal details over the social media application without judging the
authenticity of the other user.
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing

6[XXXXXX]
References:
Lamphere, Renee D., and Kweilin T. Lucas. "Online Romance in the 21st Century: Deceptive
Online Dating, Catfishing, Romance Scams, and “Mail Order” Marriages." Handbook of
Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online. IGI Global, 2019. 475-
488.
Larson, Miriam. "Catfishing on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer." Bulletin of the Center for Children's
Books 73.4 (2019): 174-174.
Lauckner, Carolyn, et al. "“Catfishing,” cyberbullying, and coercion: An exploration of the risks
associated with dating app use among rural sexual minority males." Journal of Gay &
Lesbian Mental Health 23.3 (2019): 289-306.
Computer Fundamentals: Catfishing