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  In the online world, many people have been the victims of “catfishing.” You might have been catfished before or somebody you know probably has. A catfish is someone who creates a false online identity. According to “Catfish” on techtarget.com, “catfishing is common on social networking and online dating sites. Sometimes a catfish’s sole purpose is to engage in a fantasy. Sometimes, however, the catfish’s intent is to defraud a victim, seek revenge or commit identity theft.”

  As catfishing has become so common on social media, a show has been created about it. “Catfish: The TV Show,” is a reality-based documentary developed by Ariel Schulman, Yaniv “Nev” Schulman, and Max Joseph about personal experience. The show documents the producers traveling around the world telling stories of partners who met on the internet and are now meeting in real life.

  There are many ways to protect yourself from being the victim of a catfish. Many people think it is okay to catfish, therefore there are many catfish in the world today. One way is to have privacy settings on so you don’t give up too much personal information.

  Another way to be protected is to tell your close friends about what is going on. You can also delete your accounts if the situation gets too serious. Ask them if they feel like anything is suspicious or if they think it’s a real person.

   Lastly, you can always do a fact check. You can easily Google search somebody or take their image and search it on Google’s “search by image” option. If there are multiple profiles or more than one name shows, you’re probably being catfished.

  It’s important to be protected so you don’t get hurt.

   Being a catfish is wrong because they are taking somebody else’s identity. A catfish could get in legal trouble if someone discovered their identity was stolen and pressed charges.

  “A lot depends on how old you are now. There are several charges that might be possible, such as false personation or unauthorized use of an online account,” attorney Robert Lee Marshall said on “Is Catfishing Illegal?” from Avvo.

  Not only is it identity theft, but it’s wrong in so many other ways. A catfish is messing with somebody else’s feelings and emotionally hurting somebody else. Overall, if you are “catfishing” anybody, it needs to stop because it’s just not right.

  My opinion on catfishing is that it’s so pointless and rude. When people catfish, they are only thinking about themselves, not the other side of the relationship. Why would you fake being somebody else? Just be yourself, not a catfish. I have no personal experience with catfishing, but I know there are many, many people who have, especially with the world today being so technologically advanced.