A New Zealand fitness blogger and mother found out a stranger had stolen her pictures on social media and pretended to be her for seven years.
Makaia Carr's photos were used by an unnamed Auckland woman who tried to sustain an online relationship with an American boxer.
The boxer finally discovered he was catfished mid-2016 after a suspicious conversation.
He contacted Carr earlier this week to let her know the woman he was talking to had was using her pictures and pretending to be her.
After the anonymous man contacted Carr, she penned a Facebook status to warn her friends about dangers of catfishing.
An excerpt from her status says,
I was contacted by a guy in America today who thought he was talking to me online for well over a year and forming a relationship. He started to suspect something late last year and found out there was a woman in Auckland pretending to be me. She was using photos from my social media channels and making weird stuff up, even pics of my friends, giving them all names etc.
Carr also shared screenshots of the conversations between the duo, which the unnamed man sent her.
Although the anonymous woman didn't use Carr's name, she tricked the man she was speaking into thinking the pictures were of her — even though none of them were.
The boxer finally realized he was being tricked mid-2016 when the woman sent him photos of Carr at a boxing match.
When he asked her to send videos of the fight, she claimed "nobody recoded it," which sparked his curiosity.
He soon went to the gym's Facebook page and noticed all the pictures she sent him were posted and congratulating Carr. Then, he went to YouTube to find a video of the fight and heard the crowd chanting for Carr.
The catfish victim talked to Stuff about the ordeal, and he said,
I was at a restaurant. Funnily enough, I had just ordered catfish, hush puppies and mac and cheese. So I'm sitting there, waiting for the catfish to come, and I look it up on YouTube, and I hear them all cheering for her, all saying 'Makai Makai Makai.' They weren't saying the right name. That's when it hit me for sure.
Soon enough, he blocked the woman's number.
Earlier this week, he sent Carr screenshots of their conversation so she was aware of the imposture that also lived in New Zealand.
Carr talked to Daily Mail about her reaction upon discovering the catfish, and said she was "pissed."
She added, "It has been quite an emotional roller coaster, really. It has given me a little bit of fear online, and you start to second guess what you do on social media."
Apparently, she found the woman who was pretending to be her on LinkedIn and had a friend messaged her because she was too "creeped out" to directly contact her.
Carr said the catfish replied with apology and admitted what she did was wrong, telling Stuff her actions were "unforgivable."
Since the incident, Carr changed her social media settings to private except her public work-related Facebook account for her business, MotivateMe.
She said the incident taught her how careful she needs to be online.
Citations: 'I felt sick about the dirty lie': Mum discovers a stranger spent SEVEN YEARS pretending to be her so she could pursue an online relationship with an American boxer (Daily Mail Australia), Auckland woman's life stolen to set up online relationship with American boxer (Stuff)
