These are the catfish stories you pray never happen to you
Is there no romance left in this world?
Dating apps are now so ingrained in uni life, that in the short time it’s taken them to invade, conquer and trash our love lives, the risk of being catfished has catapulted from 0 to 100.
Fake profiles, stolen images or heavily edited photos bombard our feeds all the time. Our thumbs are rigidly locked in the ‘swipe left’ position and damn it, we want our thumbs back.
Here are some catfish stories that may make you give up on love altogether. Or Tinder at least.
TrueView is a dating app that puts safety first by linking linking social media accounts to profiles
Chris, third year, Oxford Brookes
I’ve been catfished not once, but twice.
The first time my girlfriend confronted me because someone was using my name and picture to chat up girls. Someone then told her that ‘I’ had been chatting them up. That was a fun conversation.
Strike two happened when someone using my picture started talking to my younger cousin. She was actually quite scared because this fake profile was being extremely inappropriate, so didn’t tell anyone for ages. When my aunt finally got it out of her, she then confronted me, which was perhaps the most awkward experience of my life. Anyway, when I found out, we tried to get a date with this person to find out who he was, but he had disappeared.
Hanan, third year, Royal Holloway
I matched with a guy who was gorgeous and we really hit it off. We went to dinner and had the best time. He had so much in common with me – when I mentioned running for Student Youth Parliament, he told me he’d also applied. We’d been to all of the same places on holiday and even had the exact same favourite obscure book series growing up. I felt like we really had a connection.
He then messaged me that night telling me he had something to confess. I thought, “Oh great, he’s got a girlfriend.” But no no, that was not the case. He admitted that he actually had nothing in common with me at all and had just stalked me online to find out every little detail he could about me.
I swiftly switched all my social media profiles to private after that.
No fake profiles or heavily edited photos – just real people waiting to meet you
Callum, third year, Trent
I was talking to this girl on Tinder for ages, sending totally solicited pics back and forth, yet every time we made plans they’d always get cancelled. Eventually it transpired we were both going to the same party, but she never turned up. When I was there however, this random guy ran up to me, threw some ice in my face and then scurried off. I let it go.
At around 2am that night, I got a message from her asking to meet at a hotel. I went, but surprise surprise – she wasn’t there. At this point, it was obvious I had been taken for a ride, so I got all my mates to do some sleuth work. We found out it was the ice guy catfishing me and after some serious research, I discovered where he worked. I stormed over to his office and did a live stream of me exposing him.
Jenna, second year, Sheffield
I am a victim of a classic Tinder catfish. I was speaking to such an attractive guy and we were really clicking. I got all excited about my new flame and showed my friend a picture of him. She took one look and proceeded to burst my bubble, telling me that he was using pictures of a famous YouTuber on his profile.
He messaged me later that day asking what I’d been up to, so I said, “Oh nothing… I’ve just been watching episodes of Catfish all day”. He blocked me – such a shame.
Meet someone who actually shares your interests on TrueView now
Luke, third year, Manchester
I once matched with a 32 year old lady who was pretty attractive. We agreed to meet at a bar after a couple days of chatting, but on the evening, a much older woman arrived. Turns out the pictures were hers, but from nine years beforehand. She was actually 41 and looked dramatically different. I felt like I was having a drink with my teacher.
Charley, third year, Royal Holloway
I’d been speaking to a guy on Tinder for a while. He had loads of rugby pictures on his profile and looked really fit. I definitely fancied him and was obviously excited to meet up, but when he got to our date I didn’t recognise him at all.
He told me he’d stopped playing rugby and even exercising in general two years ago. He’d been eating like crap and doing loads of drugs since and to be honest, looked quite unwell. I know it sounds so shallow but it was obvious he’d done it to be cheeky and get more dates – it really freaked me out.
Josh, second year, Cambridge
I once got messaged by a girl who had found me on Facebook to tell me that someone she had been speaking to was using my photos. She said that even though they had been chatting for ages, she still liked to find out as much as possible about the person before meeting up – obviously her method worked. This guy hadn’t even been using recent pictures of me, they were ones going five or six years back. I have no idea how he got those.
Turns out the bloke was someone she knew from home, which makes things even creepier.
TrueView will ensure you’re not catfished, hoodwinked or bamboozled ever again