Expert reveals ‘real’ reason catfish mum Kendra used her daughter’s nickname ‘Lo’ while texting

Netflix’s Unknown Number: The High School Catfish tells the story of Kendra Licari, a mum who catfished her 13-year-old daughter, Lauryn, and bombarded her with threatening messages. One detail that was left unanswered was why, if Kendra tried to be anonymous, many of the texts referred to Lauryn by her personal nickname, ‘Lo.’ Now, an expert has revealed the reason behind it.

The doc follows Lauryn and her then-boyfriend Owen as they start receiving strange messages from an unknown number in late 2020. What seemed at first like harmless pranks soon spiralled into daily threats, abusive insults, and even calls for Lauryn to harm herself.

The show also highlights just how extreme the messages were. Lauryn and Owen received almost 40 to 50 messages daily over a 22-month period.

At first, because of the nickname ‘Lo’ and how personal the messages were, suspicion fell on school friends. But the investigation revealed that the messages were being sent by Lauryn’s mother, Kendra Licari.

In the show, Kendra admits, “I started sending messages just to see if they might ask, ‘Is this so-and-so?’ I wanted answers. But then it just kept going.”

Okay, so why would Kendra use her daughter’s nickname if she was trying to remain anonymous?

Expert reveals the psychology behind Kendra using the nickname ‘Lo’

via Netflix

Speaking to LADbible, Dannielle Haig, Chief Psychologist at DH Consulting, explained the reason catfish mum Kendra used her daughter’s nickname “Lo” while texting her. “Nicknames carry deep emotional weight,” Haig said. “They’re personal, tied to identity, and often feel intimate. Even when someone is trying to stay hidden, these slips can happen unconsciously.”

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Haig added that the use of Lauryn’s nickname could also reflect an internal conflict. “On one hand, Kendra wanted to remain unseen. On the other, there may have been a desire to maintain a sense of closeness or recognition with her daughter, even through the deception,” she said.

She continued, “Psychology shows us that when someone is torn between concealment and exposure, these ‘leakages’ often occur. It’s basically a glimpse into what they’re really feeling.”

Kendra catfished her own daughter for almost two years. Experts in the show suggested that she might have been suffering from a type of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The harassment finally ended with Kendra’s arrest. She was convicted of two counts of stalking a minor and sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison. But she served just over a year before being released in August 2024.

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.