Spot the Catfish

A Basic Guide to Identify and Protect Yourself Against Catfish Scammers

You've felt it before — that little hitch where something doesn't add up. The photos are a little too perfect. The stories don't quite line up. They always have a reason they can't video call.

That instinct is worth trusting. This guide teaches you why it's firing.

Online relationship fraud shows up everywhere trust gets built — Facebook and Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) DMs, LinkedIn connection requests, Discord and gaming chats, and yes, dating apps too.

The same scripts, the same recycled photos, the same behavioral tells run across all of them — and increasingly, they evolve into cryptocurrency "investment opportunities" (sometimes called "pig butchering" scams) once trust is established. This guide breaks down the patterns wherever they show up.

Built from real, documented patterns, this isn't generic "be careful online" advice — it's a field-tested breakdown of exactly how these scams operate, so you can spot them in the first few messages instead of the first few months.

Inside, you'll learn to recognize:

• Conversation red flags — the scripts, the pacing, the too-fast intimacy

• Profile and visual tells — the photo patterns scammers reuse over and over (yes, including the fine-dining and golf-course shots)

• Behavioral warning signs — the moments right before a money ask, and what leads up to them

Whether it started with a new LinkedIn connection, a Discord friend request, a stranger sliding into your DMs, or chatting you up after connecting on Facebook, X, Instagram — or even a dating app match — this guide gives you the pattern recognition to trust your gut with actual evidence behind it.

Knowledge is your best defense. Get wise before you get hooked.