Pof catfish warning

[ncingfrequently]

A while back I was catfished by someone on pof which had really disastrous effects on my MH. It was some kind of psychological catfish, no money was involved - just a lot of my time and traumatic past was raked up.

I've never really understood what it was all about but there was a LOT of really uncomfortable things about it and why I was targeted.

I saw that the person is still active last night and reported them again, today their profile is still active

They do this - use the same profile and adapt it slightly but use the same photos which are of a fairly unknown minor celeb

Please be incredibly careful anyone who trades messages with any users who have 666 on the end of their username.

It was maybe 2 years ago now and I was far more naive than I am now but they have been active since and actually are very clever at convincing you that you are mad and overreacting, they are dangerous I believe and pof doesn't seem to be able to recognise the same photos and profile over and over

Whilst I was stupid to fall for it - now in hindsight I spot exactly why it's clearly a catfish from the profile and was new to OLD when it happened but there's a believable accent, and they sent videos of themselves which I believed at the time confirmed that it was who I was speaking to. Until you meet in person... please remember that people can be anyone and phone calls, selfies or videos mean nothing.

I don't want to go into more detail but it's a man I believe is VERY dangerous.

Can you tell us the username? Perhaps the minor celebrity who’s photo is being used would like to know too, tbh!

I did try and contact the celeb back when I first found out to tell them. They're not particularly easy obviously to contact so I hope that someone in their team saw and decided if they wanted to do anything about it.

I don't want to post the name publicly for my own safety if they ever saw this. If anyone is worried though that they might have come across the same user you can pm me...

The best way to avoid being catfished is to insist on an actual meet up within a month at the longest (and preferably less than that) and stop communicating with and block anybody who comes up with endless excuses as to why they can’t. I think this is so important. Any genuine man who would like to meet you will free up an hour somewhere in his busy schedule.

If you believe he’s “very dangerous” (and by that I mean an actual threat to safety, not just somebody who messes naive women around and leaves them feeling heartbroken) then you need to report his profile to the website and indicate that you intend to contact the police.

And don’t talk about personal issues or emotions or the inner workings of your life with somebody you’ve never met. Super important.

Not directing this at you, OP. There are far too many women who are socially conditioned to think that showing vulnerability and trust is what they should do if asked to by a man.

Police have been involved. Not willing to say anymore than that.

It alarmed me that he's still active 2 years later and thought I'd risk putting a warning on here. There may be more profiles active than the ones I've spotted.

It's happened to me 4 times while OLD,I really did begin to doubt myself

What's the point in this thread or in attempting to vwarn usv if you won't give out details as to who this person is or is pretending to be

I'm really not trying to be harsh OP, but what did you think you were going to get from someone with 666 in their username?

Not willing to put myself at any more risk to satisfy the curiosity of some. If anyone HAS interacted with this individual- there's enough in what I have said for them to recognise similarities

This isn't a jokey let's go view this profile thread... sorry to disappoint.

If he's don't this to so many women how will he identify you from a public forum.

Seems like just attention seeking rather than trying to help others.

At least tell us which celebrity's pictures he is using. That way you're not giving out personal information and you're warning people to steer clear.

I've no idea how many women he has or hasn't done things to. I'm not giving the username out for pure curiosity sake of MNers who don't seem to understand that I will not willingly direct any woman towards this man and don't wish to divulge any more details for your sordid curiosity

that not clear enough?

You don't need to have gory details

It doesn’t really make sense - I agree with PP, if this profile is genuinely dangerous then you ought to be reporting it to the relevant authorities, rather than discuss it on Mumsnet but continue to protect the “catfish” profile. Odd. Are you sure you’re not an ex with an axe to grind?

Was it Andrew Stone ?

has been REPORTED. Police have been involved.

Would you prefer that I went into gory fucking details of something traumatic ?

Because I'm not going to oblige you and I hoped to just simply put a warning to women to be careful.

Will beg MN to remove this now and just accept I'm powerless to stop him

There no need for aggressive language. . I can understand your frustration however nobody has asked you to divulge personal information traded with said fake celebrity. Good luck for the future.

You ok OP?

What was the point in you posting then OP? There's hundreds of fake profiles on the dating sites, loads with celeb pics.

What did the police say/ do?

Did you meet them, OP?

Jesus poor OP.

Yes I met them. No I don't want to give out any details more. Have asked MN to delete and hoping they might as I didn't post for entertainment I posted hoping I could prevent someone else experiencing anything like what I did

But I think you’re missing the point - no one is asking for “entertainment purposes”. If there is a dangerous man posing as someone else then why post about it unless you’re going to write the username so people know who to potentially report/avoid. It just seems that your protecting them rather than women in general. As someone said, even saying the celebrity they are posing as, helps people detect and avoid. Don’t be so defensive.

Maybe you should have written a general post about the dangers of internet dating, without including any personal information whatsoever or parts of someone’s profile name. It’s kind of obvious that people would ask who they should be avoiding.

I doubt anyone will recognise him as s celeb unless they have a niche interest. Just reverse search images and double check any similar usernames if you happen to be communicating with anyone who fits that description, I was incredibly lucky not to come to more harm than I did and if he's active again it's clear that everything I took to the police hasn't helped. He has multiple identities and I'm not sure what his endgame is but I know I was very frightened with what I did witness. I only discovered who the photos were of as a friend took a look and happened to know of the celeb after I discovered he was a completely different man.

All in all I think you've given a fair warning here to others:

--Backsearch images
--Ask friends before going to meet the person, in case they recognize the person in the pics.
--Their name has 666 in it
--There is someone catfishing on PoF (and likely other OLD sites) and to be on alert in case its them on the **666 account or not.
--Always let a friend/family member know you're meeting someone new and let them know where you're going and any details about the person you're meeting.
--Meet in a public place
--Don't give out personal details and other personal information until you feel it is safe to do so
--Be careful!

I am sorry you went through something that was clearly horrible, OP. Hope in time you can heal from what was done/what you saw. Hugs to you.