We can help find out if you have been talking to a Catfish or have been a victim of Online Dating Fraud in Australia

Catfish & Online Dating Fraud Australia. Catfishing is a deceptive activity where a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim. The practice may be used for financial gain, to compromise a victim in some way, as a way to intentionally upset a victim, or for wish fulfillment. Catfishing media has been produced, often featuring victims who wish to identify their catfisher. Celebrities have been targeted, which has brought media attention to catfishing practices.

History
The modern term originated from the 2010 American documentary Catfish. The documentary follows Nev Schulman, the executive producer, as a victim of catfishing. He had cultivated a relationship with what he thought was a 19-year-old girl from the Midwestern United States. The woman with whom he had been communicating was actually a 40-year-old housewife. In the documentary, it is mentioned that the woman’s husband came up with the term as he found comparison to a myth how cod and catfish act when shipped in different tanks. The myth describes how live cod fish were shipped with catfish in the same tanks to keep the cod active, ensuring the quality of the cod whereas being shipped alone the cod would become pale and lethargic. This myth originated in the fiction writing of Henry Nevinson (1913, Essays in Rebellion) and Charles Marriott (1913, The Catfish).

The term catfishing has become more widely known throughout the subsequent decade, thanks to a television series which followed the main star of the movie, Yaniv (Nev) Schulman, helping other people investigate their possible catfish situations.

The term also spiked in popularity during an incident involving University of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o in 2013.