‘Facebook fraud has made me a gay icon’: Second year’s identity stolen by a catfish

I’m Danny Baggott, and my Facebook pictures are being used to lure gay men for sex.

A suspected elderly man going by the name Mike Surman has been using my Facebook photos to attract younger lads to meet him around Birmingham.

The Facebook profile, which is still active now, has over 1,000 friends.

Aside from the fact I am actually a heterosexual man with a girlfriend, the main issue is that he has more likes and friends on his fake profile than I do on mine.

This is gay Mike- definitely not me

I’ve known about “Mike” for some time now, although I have no idea how long he has been using my pictures for. I’ve watched more than enough of the TV series Catfish and I know just how serious and widespread this kind of online impersonation has become.

So you can imagine my reaction when my friend Tom Priest stumbled across Mike’s profile one day – the horror was etched across my face.

Thanks a lot Tom

And, just like Catfish, the issue doesn’t just stop at flaunting my pictures online. No, good old Mike is using them to lure gay men to meet him.

He’s even photoshopping the pictures to make me look prettier, it’s a nightmarish reality that gets worse with every new photo.

Mike enticing people to ‘help’ him out

Kill me, kill me now

Not only is Mike setting up “dating” proposals left, right and centre, he’s created an entire new persona.

Some of the posts detail his intimate relationship with an unknown suitor, which ends tragically further down the line when Mike is left broken hearted and betrayed.

I have no idea whether this is mere fantasy or the relationship actually played out, but I hope for the sake of the other guy, it is the former.

My heart bleeds for him

While I’ve obviously taken the whole farce in good stead, I can’t shake off my concern that young men and boys are unwittingly being enticed by someone who is neither honest, nor mentally stable (so it seems).

I’ve contacted the guy on numerous occasions and requested he takes the profile down, but he refuses to budge on the matter.

Given his popularity online, my worst fear is that I may be confronted by someone on the street who has come across Mike Surman’s profile.

Enough said

And perhaps more importantly, I’m not the only person falling victim to this.

Although I find the whole thing hilarious, others whose images are being stolen may feel both frightened and embarrassed.

When I first told my girlfriend she was disgusted about it all, and even though she’s lightened up about it a bit now, she still feels I need to pursue it further and make sure the profile is taken down.

With all that considered, I definitely agree something needs to be done to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

But in this instance, even after I’ve tightened up my social media security settings, I can’t help but feel the damage has already been done.

So to anyone reading this, I’d advise that you reconfigure those Facebook settings.

Otherwise you may end up becoming a fake icon too.

She wasn’t happy