Catfishing, the act of creating fake or stolen identities to exploit individuals for financial or emotional gains, has become prevalent in this e-dating era. This type of scam, estimated by the FBI to have caused over $1 billion in losses in 2022¹, has left numerous individuals with harrowing experiences. 

Take, for instance, a Reddit user who stumbled upon an appealing guy on a dating app only to discover he was married². In another case, a 22-year-old male who fell victim to emotional manipulation by a catfish suffered a loss exceeding $1400.³ 

Drawing insights from these experiences, it’s crucial to verify your online encounters to protect yourself from catfishing scams. And this post has compiled effective tools and strategies to help you navigate the virtual landscape safely.

How to spot catfish?

Spotting catfish can be straightforward at the lower levels. If you notice red flags such as poor logic or grammatical errors in conversations, or your match consistently refuse to video chat, be cautious. When the profile picture is exceptionally perfect and flawless, consider running a reverse image search to see if it uses stock or stolen photos.

On the other hand, some catfish masters are adept at creating convincing personas. They may weave elaborate life histories that include elements of their true identity, making it more difficult to recognize.

To check if the person you’re dealing with is who they claim to be, you can utilize a range of online tools (free and paid) to conduct a background search or use simple tricks to coax the individual into disclosing their identity.

1. Reverse search image with Social Catfish

Social Catfish is an online dating investigative service featuring a dedicated image search. By uploading someone’s picture, you may verify a person’s online identity. It also provides an abundance of background information regarding the person’s physical address, relatives, education, job, and more.

Upload Image

1) Visit the Social Catfish search page. Upload an image and click Search.

2) Wait a few seconds before the search completes. Once done, unlock the full report and get all the pertinent information you need.

2. Take advantage of Google

For those who prefer a free service, Google Images is a great tool for identifying stock images and similar pictures. Simply take a screenshot or save the profile picture or take a screenshot from a video that prominently showcases your prospective date’s face and upload it to Google Images. 

Examine the results for related information. Check if the image appears on multiple platforms with consistent details. If the image is associated with different names or seems to be a stock photo, it may indicate a fake identity.

3. Do a catfish phone number search

You can also identify a possible catfish by phone number. One user on a Christian dating forum shared his experience with reverse phone number lookup, revealing the phone number was registered to a different person in a separate city⁴. The discovery helped confirm his suspicion of the catfish.

Get started with a simple Google search. If the phone number is linked to any social media accounts like Facebook or Instagram, navigate through the posts and photos for a glimpse into the person’s real-world life. Be cautious of accounts with no photo, followers or engagement as they are likely to be fake. 

If Google returns no satisfying results, you could try Trucaller, a leader in caller ID and spam-blocking software. Powered by extensive phonebook data from its users and relying on a robust community that suggests names for numbers, it allows you to check unknown phone numbers, domestic or international, for free and view the caller’s number, name, and location.

1) Go to the Truecaller homepage.

2) Enter the phone number you want to investigate and click Search.

3) Sign in with a Google or Microsoft account.

4) Check the possible phone number owner’s name and address. If phone numbers are reported as spam, they will be flagged.

4. Check real identity behind a profile

What if you don’t know the real name or phone number of an online encounter but an online ID? Don’t worry. BeenVerified provides an instant and effective username search. You could discover who’s behind an online profile and access the person’s address, contact, marital status, criminal history, and more.

1) Navigate to the BeenVerified username search page.

2) Type a username and click Search.

3) It will take a few minutes to scan and locate the correct person. By unlocking the report, you should get every piece of useful information and view their portraits if available.

5. Call the person using a fake phone number

In a forum discussion, a user shared a straightforward tip for confirming a suspected catfish⁵. If you have the person’s phone number, try to call him / her from a fake or burner phone number, so (s)he won’t know it’s you. Many people will instinctively respond with their real name when answering a call.

Hopefully these catfish finder tools helped. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave your comment below.

1. FBI Houston Media Office. (2022, February 10). $1 Billion in Losses Reported by Victims of Romance Scams. https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/houston/news/press-releases/1-billion-in-losses-reported-by-victims-of-romance-scams ↩︎
2. r/AskReddit [FearTheWeird]. (2015, August 23). [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3i2us1/comment/cucv9q1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button ↩︎
3. r/dating [TheOhioMans]. (2023, September 15). I lost $1400 to a catfish. [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/dating/comments/16iwz3s/i_lost_1400_to_a_catfish/ ↩︎
4. [Admin]. (2015, April 6). Catfish (fake profiles). [Online forum post]. Christian Dating For Free. https://www.christiandatingforfree.com/forum/forum_details.php?topic_id=21312&forum_sub_cat_id=3 ↩︎
5. r/catfish [-wholesome-bean-]. (2019, November 24). A Guide to Finding a Catfish. [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/catfish/comments/e0vfhm/a_guide_to_finding_a_catfish/ ↩︎