Tales of being Catfished.

I was catfished. That was the first thing Dr. Sandra Brownstein said on a phone call with me. Now to be transparent, I barely knew what being ‘Catfished’ meant. I saw a show about it once, and it hurt my heart. The one I saw was about a woman who was catfished by another woman. She was left brokenhearted, and it made me so sad. Never even considered watching another episode.

Sandra had to spend the first part of the call explaining what catfished worked. How these guys troll social media sites to find their next victim. One shocking thing she told me was what percentage of profiles on Linkedin are catfishers. I was shocked.

What an insidious thing to do, Catfish innocent people.

Dr. Brownstein openly discussed her experiences with the Catfisher. The techniques they use to reel women in. Plus the same proven blueprint is used by 99% of these con artists. The Catfished builds up trust and love quickly, and once these women buy into the You’re my Queen, I love you and start packing, we are going to get married and travel the world. He’ll pay for everything. But STOP the presses. Something bad happens to him than the money request comes. It can be small like $500 for a plane ticket or $500,000 to pay a downpayment but don’t worry when he gets here, he’ll pay you back. Except that NEVER happens. When he gets the money, he is gone baby gone.

They ask for phone cards and mobile phones, then before they know what’s happening, they ask for 10,000+++ dollars. Many women get whipped out of all their savings, and the Catfisher is long gone. He moved on to his next victim.

I think these guys ‘talk’ with 3-4 women at a time to get their money. They prey upon single lonely women looking for companionship. These bad actors know all the triggers to pull, leaving many women with emotional trauma. Many spend years trying to recover financially and emotionally. 

Dr. Brownstein could spot the scheme and left, not losing anything other than time and a few open wounds. She talks about how the process is done, the commonalities, and the red flags.

Join the conversation and bring a notebook. This session is note-taking worthy.