r/catfish

There’s some guy on this dating site using another persons photos, but the weird thing is he mixes them in with his own photos and i don’t know why he thinks no one is gonna question him on it but….
Anyways im looking for the real person in the image, the guy looks really familiar maybe a rugby player or someone in a sport around ireland.
I will try attach the images below but this is the person who’s likeness he is using

Alright so nobody got hurt except for me. I found out this guy (35) I was seeing basically led me (36) on for months and lied to me about just about everything he told me. Told he was “intentionally” dating and that he cut off all his connections to focus on ours. I believed him, he told me he deleted his bumble account, I believed him. He was really charming in that way, but then he started to become inconsistent towards the end… and started blaming it on his attachment style (I’m avoidant this is hard for me) then he started telling me he had to move back into his family’s house to help them bc his parents were having a hard time. I felt sorry for him but also I realized.. he lied about this so that he would never have to invite me over to his place. I asked him numerous times if we should end it? He kept saying no.

there was even one week he told me he went to Asia (I’m not even sure if that happened) then he came back and surprised me a “week earlier” I believed him. He kept telling me how stressed he was and that he was having chest pains and work and then all the sudden his aunt dies (I’m not even sure if his aunt even died) anyway, he discarded me like I was nothing. And I just felt so betrayed and tricked.

So I made a fake bumble account at first to see if he was still on there (we ended up matching) it wasn’t a new account… I asked him what area he stayed, he told me (that’s how i figured out he never moved because bumble shows you how far someone is from you) naturally I was quite angry.

So I made plans with him as my catfish….he made reservations at a place that has more than one location.

Me and my friend dressed up as men and sat in the restaurant and cackled at his stupid face as he was getting stood up, we recorded the whole thing.

I kept texting him from my catfish Google voice number that I was running late and then I pretended I went to the wrong location. He drove all the way across town.. then I just ghosted him. He called 4x and kept texting..

Nothing compares to the months of confusion and lies that man put me through. I was super genuine the whole time we dated only to realize everything was a lie to just keep me around. I’m also someone who has had a lot of sexual trauma. I felt incredibly used and betrayed.

I did it to get my power back.

Someone lying about moving, their aunt dying, work stress etc is actually evil. I had idea someone could lie so easily.

Not to mention he lied about the smallest things… (I found his Reddit account) he told me he didn’t watch wrestling or love island…….. 👀 then why are you commenting in subreddits about love island and wresting ???

Anyway I had this man chasing imaginary pussy for a whole day. Felt good

Gave me closure. I talked about it with my therapist. I’m totally fine.

I loved getting the last laugh. Now he’s stuck wondering what happaned to this hot girl that wanted me??????😂

Can someone help with searching my boyfriend? We met online and i need to check on him

I 29f met who I thought was another women 33f on fetlife.

She said her Dad was sick and had to go be with her Mom. Around that time I told her I was a little worried this was a catfish and wanted a videochat. She got mad and said her Dad died. She deleted the pic she sent me (face with eyes cropped out) and blocked me on fetlife.

(She didn't share a picture with a full face and I thought, wouldn't a catfish just take someone else's photo?)

I apologized and we continued talking for about a month. We talked multiple times a day including chatting and sexting. I asked for a photo and she sent me one of a woman wearing sunglasses. It was hard to tell if it was the same person or not. I look different in different photos so I didn't question it.

I started asking for a phone call and she got mad, saying that she was supporting her mom after her dad died and she had no personal space. She didn't want her mom to hear the phone call and she was stressed with life. I understand being in greif but we chatted multiple times a day about normal stuff so a call didn't feel like too much.

She asked if we could talk in 2 weeks when she gets home. I got upset and asked her to call me for just 10 seconds but she refused. I was worried this will just drag on so I told her don't contact me unless you are willing to call. I'm worried not giving her her space ruined my chances with her if she is real. I didn't want things to get dragged on forever, and I told her that. She told me to keep looking for my person because at this point her Mom might need to move in with her (it felt like she was setting up the back story for more excuses not to call or meet.)

Am I crazy that I still hope she is real and reaches out.

Hello! I am looking for help for a family member. She has been seeing a guy for over 10 years. I have met him, he is real, but I don't know about the story there is too many red flags. He is currently living in Vancouver Washington, he lived in Australia with my mum when they're in a relationship up until around 2019 when he went back to America after they broke up. They have still been seeing each other however, and his story is that he's been investigated by the IRS and all of his money is held in a account that he is unable to use and get access to now. So the only money he has access to is any new income. However, if he sells assets, they also get put into the account and this is what stopping him coming back to Australia to be with her. He said his lawyers? Or accountants? That have been dealing with everything is someone called John Stone, who was one of the founders and someone called channel/chanel? I don't know how to spell it. He said that he had come into a large amount of money from selling property his business inheritance from his dad and then also bitcoin. It all just seems like way too many red flags. He's never asked her for money or anything else she is just waiting for him to come back, it's been almost 7 years now. This is everything I know about him. I'm trying to find out and fact check everything with the IRS and get more information if all of this is really real.

Name - JC Davis (however apparently he was originally from the Philippines and had when his family fled as a kid they changed his name)
He used to be in the military.
Currently living in Vancouver Washington and has a upholstery business for cars
He is divorced and has a daughter under grandson

I know he's a real person because I've met him i'm just trying to figure out if all of the stuff with the IRS is actually true and what is keeping him there maybe if I can find the actual lawfirm to see even if that's true? He says that the law firm won't talk to my family member because she's not the client even if he gives approval but I can't seem to find a lawfirm with both those people work out not even the shop as a law firm or an accounting firm what it would need to be

Please help.

i just found out yesterday that my bf of almost 2+ years has been catfishing me as multiple people. i know it sounds horrible but it was really my fault that we never facetimed, Im nearly 21 years old and this exact situation has happened before to me, at 15. we only ever sent eachother voice messages back and forth and hed send videos of “him” playing the bass, singing, the piano. that i’ve later found out were not him. there’s a huge part of me that truly wants to believe that he wasn’t always a catfish and what he felt for me was genuine, he was just scared to confess it. i started getting more and more suspicious after finding a nsfw reddit account that he later confessed was him… but i cannot be sure. after that a friend of mine found a tiktok to one of the people he was catfishing as, the main perso, who was obviously american. he’s swedish/russian. he never asked for money or overly forced me to do anything, but we did have a “taboo“ dynamic (100% mutual, i sought after it) that would ruin my life if anyone found out about. he blocked me on everything. I’m so scared I don’t know where to go from here. Im delusional enough to think i’d go back if he told me who he actually was and I could still love that person)):

I matched with a girl on tinder. Right away within a few days she said she wants to marry me and said she wants to commit to me for long term. She was 7 years younger to me. She talked for like 6-7 days to me and on the 8th day her chat disappeared from tinder. Either she unmatched me or it was a tinder glitch, I don’t know. But why would she do that?
Would anyone like to discuss with me in dm or in comments if this was a scam? I would prefer dm though coz there I can go in specific details.

That would be really helpful. I would definitely say I got really attached to her in just a few days and when she left my heart broke into thousand pieces.

I’ve been talking to a girl online for about 10 months. We’ve texted consistently, but there are some things that have been bothering me.

She has never FaceTimed me. She’s only called me once, and the call lasted about 13 seconds before it ended. Since then, no phone calls, no video calls, and no voice notes.

She says she lives with her ex, who she describes as controlling and abusive. According to her, he financially supports her, has cameras in the house (even in the bathroom), and has software installed on her phone that lets him see everything she does. She says that’s why she can’t call me, FaceTime me, or even send voice messages—even if she’s in the bathroom.

Her explanation for why she’s still living with him is that they were about to get engaged, but he cheated on her. She says she hates him and wants nothing to do with him romantically anymore, but she stays because he financially supports her. She also says she’s waiting until she gets the engagement ring she believes he still owes her before she finally leaves.

She does send me pictures, but since we’ve never really talked live, I don’t know if they’re actually her or if they’re old pictures.

One thing that makes this even more confusing is that she knows a lot of people in our religious community. Over the months, she’s told me things about people and situations that were later confirmed by others, so she’s clearly connected to the community in some way. That’s what makes this whole situation so strange—it doesn’t feel like someone who completely made up their identity.

She’s also never asked me for money, gift cards, or anything financial, so it doesn’t seem like a typical romance scam.

I’m trying to be empathetic because I know abusive relationships and digital surveillance are real. At the same time, after 10 months, it feels strange that there hasn’t been a single normal phone conversation or video call.

Does this sound like someone who could genuinely be trapped in a controlling situation, or does this sound more like a catfish using an elaborate story to avoid live communication? If you’ve experienced something similar, what ended up happening?

I am still processing this, but I need to get it off my chest. I feel sad, mad, and honestly like an absolute idiot right now.

I’ve been talking to a girl on Discord for about a week. This was a massive deal for me because she was the first girl I have ever dated in my life. We hit it off fast, and I genuinely thought things were going somewhere real.

From the start, something felt slightly off about the pictures she sent. They just looked too perfect, almost like a model or an influencer. I tried to ignore the gut feeling, but today I finally decided to do some digging. I ran a reverse image search on her photos.

My stomach completely dropped. The photos belong to an entirely different person with a completely different life.

I haven't confronted her yet. I don't even know if she is still messaging me because I haven't looked. I am just too embarrassed. It hurts that I invested real emotion and excitement into someone who lied so effortlessly right from day one. I feel so stupid for falling for it.

Has anyone else gone through this with their first relationship? Should I bother calling her out, or do I just block her and move on? I could really use some perspective.

Update I decided to block them as well as reported the account including telling the owner of the server about them and they were banned shortly afterwards, I did not confront them about it because I realized it's not worth the energy to do it.

I am a 35F who has never been in a relationship before. Two years ago, a 37M reached out to me with a marriage proposal. I wasn't interested in an arranged marriage, so I took my time, and he waited patiently. Although we are from the same state, he claimed to be working in Delhi with plans to move to Mumbai soon.

We chatted consistently, and after six months, we entered into a relationship. However, the major issue is that we have never met in person or had a single video call in two years. Whenever I push to meet, he gives me dates that constantly get pushed back. We have had countless arguments and "breakups," but we always reconcile because I keep hoping he will follow through.

I have many doubts about his intentions. He has never asked for money or inappropriate photos, and he is available to talk on the phone at all hours, which makes me question what he is gaining from this. He currently claims he is undergoing cancer treatment and will visit next month, but he has used similar excuses over ten times. I am now certain he is lying about his life and location.

I need advice on why someone would commit to a two-year "relationship" without ever meeting or video calling, even without asking for money. Additionally, are there any legitimate ways to verify his identity or location using just his phone number? How do I finally end this cycle and move on?

TL;DR: I have been in a virtual relationship with a man for two years who refuses to video call or meet. He constantly makes excuses about his location and health. Why would someone do this, and how can I verify if he is a real person or a fraud?

Hello everyone, first of all, this is a translation of my original post. I won’t ask for empathy, but please, don’t make this worst for me, I’ll block negative comments or people laughing at me. This is my first time using Reddit, and I’m turning to you because I know this community is great at digital investigation. I kindly ask for total discretion; please do not share this post on other social media platforms or expose it publicly (by this, I mean please do not copy, screenshot, or upload this text to platforms like TikTok, Facebook, or X without my knowledge so that I can control this guys information due to his privacy). I have just cut ties with the catfish as cleanly as possible without raising suspicion. I want to handle this safely and protect the privacy of everyone involved. I truly appreciate your empathy; the lack of sleep and the time spent gathering information has been deeply exhausting.

Recently, I discovered I had been talking to a catfish profile for two years. What worries me is that the scammer is using the photos of a real young man from Santiago, Chile (specifically from the Padre Hurtado area, Western sector). The real guy is an absolute victim in this; I don’t want to stain his name. On the contrary, I want to find his real identity to alert him, as I suspect the catfish might be someone very close to him who has been invading his privacy for years.

The impostor does not use Reddit. Since I cannot post his pictures directly due to platform rules, I will share specific visual and environmental details to give you an idea. This is what I can share without breaking any rules, just in case someone recognizes him or can guide me on how to track him down:

(I’ll share photos only if I’m getting help, I don’t mean to expose him way to much til I know I can recive help)

Environment: The real guy frequents sports centers (any information on locations with blue, yellow, and green murals would be very helpful) and gyms in the Padre Hurtado area. There is one gym I located that has brown and beige tones, a wall with a brown and white striped pattern, large posters, and I think one was about a university. He worked or works in the security/surveillance services field; I have the name of the business, but I cannot share it publicly, or correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: I discovered that the gym from the photos was recently closed down, but I still have the details and data of that gym.

.

Characteristic Tattoo 1: He has a full traditional Oriental/Japanese style sleeve tattoo on his right arm (from below the shoulder to the wrist) with high contrast. It includes lotus/cherry blossoms, waves, a dragon, a Samurai-style mask, koi fish, and Asian lettering.

.

Characteristic Tattoo 2: On his other arm (on the inside of his wrist), he has a fine-line tattoo with the numbers 111 or 777 (I don't have clear photos of this one).

.

Fixed Accessories: He always wears the same silver accessories: a necklace, a bracelet, a ring, and hoop earrings. He has piercings (two per ear) and a characteristic slit in his eyebrow.

(I cannot provide a detailed physical description due to rules to what I was warned).

.

I run my own business, and honestly, I don't have much free time to investigate. I tried doing everything manually, going from page to page, and I don't know what else to do. I hit a wall that I don't know how to climb; it’s not practical and it's exhausting. I turn to you for guidance, and any tips are welcome. I feel like I'm in the dark:

1. Does anyone from the Padre Hurtado area or Western sector who trains at local gyms recognize these accessories or the sleeve tattoo?

2. Is there a Facebook group or forum for alumni of "Liceo Bicentenario Patricio Mekis" where I can privately ask if anyone recognizes him or knows someone trustworthy I could talk to?

3. How can I safely look up real Facebook profiles of people working in the security sector in Santiago without alerting the impostor?

4. Regarding the fine-line 111/777 tattoo or the Japanese sleeve, do you know any tattoo artist in the Western zone specializing in that style, or does the design ring a bell?

5. Could anyone using Reddit in Santiago who works in security accept a DM to guide me on how contracting companies manage their personnel registries?

6. Are there specific Facebook groups where I could share more data to find him? (Like regional groups or groups dedicated to this specific topic).

I have photos of the young man saved. Maybe I'm Missing somthing, but I'll edit if necessary. If anyone can guide me, I'll read your comments, or if you prefer to give me tips discreetly, my DMs are completely open. Thank you so much in advance for your attention and support. Blessings to all.

It took me a lot of courage to even write this, but I started catfishing in 2024, mainly because I was scared of being doxxed or people finding out who I was from my online profile. On top of that I was very insecure at the time, so I made a whole different online persona, changed everything other than my gender and I started using that to make friends.

I made a lot of friends and they all know me as the online persona, not my real life one. I even found a person who wants to date and get closer to me. She has only seen like half of my face, because I am just not who I say I am, and I have to edit pictures in order to even closely resemble my online self. It's fucked and I wish I never did this.

I made this amazing friend group of 5 who are literally as close to me as my siblings. The problem is, I have carried this online persona for way too long, and I've been feeling the guilt for a while. I can't own up because I'm probably gonna lose those friendships and I feel like it wouldn't end well. You might argue 'well if they are that close to you, they'd understand', but I don't feel that way. I feel like if I were to own up I'd lose basically everything and I'd have to restart anyway.

Also I don't want to own up for other reasons I don't really wanna say, but it would bring me a lot of shame and I don't want to go through that.

I think the best way for me to go about this is just to let everything go and delete my account. Start off fresh as myself and not lead anyone else on as I have been. It's just so hard to let go.

Whenever I'm about to delete my account I always think about the memories I've made over the 2 years, the friendships, closeness, inside jokes etc that I've made and it pulls me back to stay. The only thing that reassures me is that people fell in love with my personality, not my looks. It just sucks because if I was just honest about who I was from the start, I could have made some of the best friendships and relationships in my life, but now I have to throw it away, and will I ever find those relationships again? I don't think so.

I just feel horible and wish I had never done this. I don't know what to do. I feel like the connections I've made now will never be replicated again, but maybe I'm overthinking, any advice?

I guess you could say I wasn't really "catfished" but the person I met online was not exactly who he said he was.

I was introduced to the kink world back in 2020 after my 13 year marriage ended and I started dating again. I found out about this website where you can meet other kinksters and I made I profile just for fun and to possibly meet people who had similar kinks as me. (Probably not the best way to meet people, but again I was going through a divorce)

After being on the website for a few years, I never really met anyone I liked, or could hold a conversation with. Most of the messages I got were what is to be expected from a site like this and some just straight up gross. Lol.

Back in January a guy with a pretty private profile, no face pics, or any pics from what I can remember messaged me. His location was close to me and his age showed 44 and male. He sent me a private message and introduced himself. He made some sweet comments about my pics telling me how beautiful I was, didn't say anything super perverted and gave a quick intro of how he'd like to get to know me more. Perfect. You have my attention Sir.

I took the bait and we started chatting and flirting. He sent me a picture of himself and I found him to be absolutely adorable. We decided it was easier to chat on a different platform because this site limits what you can send through private messages. We chat every day for a couple weeks and the flirting is turning more into: "Let's meet and see how we vibe in person."

I suggest we meet up. I'm really crushing on this guy. He's cute, our kinks match up, he makes me blush, I'm ready to meet this man. I try to get him to just meet for coffee but he says his job is very demanding and it's hard to get off work. I suggest after work, weekends, weeknights, anytime, anywhere. He keeps blowing me off and won't set up an official in person meeting but still messages me everyday and flirts like his intentions are the same as mine. (We need to meet. We obviously have chemistry)

This goes on for a couple months and somewhere in that time period he told me he was falling in love with me. He then started calling me his "wifey" I told him I was only looking for a playmate and did not want to get emotionally involved with anyone. He kept playing games with me until I finally had enough.

Before it got to the point of me being over the whole situation and realizing this man would never actually meet me, I did what I do with all people I'm interested in online and I look for their social media. I could not find ANYTHING about this man. The only info I had was his phone number. I do a reverse phone search and it comes back with a different name, different location and slightly different aged male. I look on socials with that name, nothing. I even tried reverse image search on some selfies he sent me and still nothing.

One day we were chatting and I asked him to smile for me (he smiled for me in an earlier pic and I thought his smile was adorable) in a pic when he asked "what did I want to see?" I saved the photo and then did a reverse image search on that photo. FINALLY, his LinkedIn profile. Now I can dig. What I found blew my mind.

He's married. He has kids. He's a pastor. He's a tutor/teacher at a private school. The list just kept going. Now it all made sense as to why he was so busy and why he could never meet up. One of the first questions I asked him was if he could host. He said no because he had "roommates" (fair enough) At this point we're still talking everyday, I'm still trying to meet him, he's still making excuses, messing with my emotions, tells me he's in love with me, calls me his wife, so on and so forth.

I finally say something to him that gets him to confess that he has a "partner" and if we do meet, it has to be discreet. I tell him I'm okay with that (don't judge). The run around of "I'm busy" continues for a few more weeks and we eventually get to a point in our conversations where I say "I feel like you're just leading me on and messing with my emotions. I can tell there's something else besides a busy work schedule that's holding you back." Now the truth comes out. "I don't want to ruin my marriage"

He doesn't know that I know and have already found out who he is and not only is he married and has kids but he's a PASTOR. After he confessed that he was married, our conversations happened less and less. I occasionally would initiate a conversation but always left it up to him to reply. The replies would take days, and then weeks, and now it's been months since I've heard from him.

What do I do? Part of me wants to expose him to his wife and another part of me says don't be a home wrecker. The information I have could destroy this man's life and I'm not trying to do that to someone. Yes, he's being deceitful and doing bad things but who am I to judge him? I still want to meet him even though I know it's wrong but the connection we had was one of the strongest mental and sexual connections I've ever had in my life.

If you made it this far and have any advice, I'm open minded and willing to listen.

I'm trying to find this guy's other socials using an image of him but I can't find a reverse image search that actually works and provides the links is free. Is there specific websites that you would recommend? Or anyone who is subscribed to these websites that's willing to help T^T

I’ve been talking to a girl for about 7 months. We texted almost every day and usually talked on the phone for at least an hour a day. She sent voice messages regularly, we talked about our families, our future, marriage, kids, and I genuinely fell in love with her.
She never asked me for money, gifts, or anything financial. That’s one reason I never thought it was a scam.
We were finally planning to meet after her exams. Right before the meeting, she sent me a long confession.
She admitted that:
Her name isn’t the one she gave me.
The photos she used weren’t hers.
She’s not studying what she claimed.
Much of the life she described wasn’t real.
She says she originally created the fake account for another reason, but eventually developed real feelings for me. She says she wanted to tell me many times but kept getting scared because she thought I’d leave her. She apologized, said she knows what she did was wrong, and asked me to meet the real her and give her one chance to rebuild my trust.
Some additional context:
We spoke for 7 months.
She sent voice messages and phone calls.
She never asked for money.
She’s now willing to meet me in person and says she’ll introduce me to her family if I want.
The problem is that I feel completely betrayed. It feels like the person I fell in love with never actually existed.
Part of me wants answers because I cared about her so much. Another part of me wonders if the trust is broken beyond repair.
Has anyone been through something similar? Did you meet the person anyway? If you did, do you regret it or was it worth getting closure?

What are the most unhinged confessions you are able to admit anonymously about trolling, catfishing, or stalking on Grindr that you would be too embarrassed to admit to in person? Stories and tactics, let's hear it all!

So I play a mobile game that is supposed to be relaxing but it’s actually pay to win. We recently had a member join us. I have her discord name and the only info she gave is the UK.

Her photos seem a bit weird to me. Idk just feel like they are overused. Maybe it’s the pose. Because wit a a pay to win game, the leadership (myself included) have been visiting people the exclusive flowers for the game. We purchase them with our money and they are typically between $5 and $90.

Well this player comes crying to everyone with a sob story about how she needed money because she couldn’t afford food or gas or baby items and how she was failing her toddler. She’s also expecting a second child due in August.

So she set up a go fund me and people donated. I know the other hand was skeptical. So fast forward 2 weeks and suddenly she is purchasing in game materials (at least $40) while her fundraiser is still active. So I call her out publicly in the discord chat and accuse her of lying. She comes crying with another sob story about how her husband is now on disability so they have more money and so she chose to reward herself. I personally called bullshit because less than two weeks ago she had been crying for money of which people gave so if her situation did change, she should’ve offered her money back to those people because it seems like she’s scamming everybody. In the past, she’s always been the one to cry for anybody to give her anything for free and all of this.

I personally do not believe one word of her story even if everybody else does so I’m hoping that someone here can help me figure out whether or not this is a real person if she’s even who she says she is. I don’t believe she’s even a real person at this point. I have a couple photos she has uploaded.

Sorry for this long post. I don’t usually air my laundry but I honestly don’t know what else to do, so I figured I’d try here because maybe someone has seen something like this before.

My dad is 81 years old and I truly believe he’s being catfished by a woman who says her name is Lesly. She claims she’s from Marseille, France, has kids, and was supposed to fly here this week to move in with him.

This has been going on for months. During that time she somehow convinced him to download multiple messaging apps because she always has some reason why she can’t communicate normally. At one point she supposedly had her phone stolen at the airport. Then there were problems with visas, passports, hotels…it’s always something.

One of the stories is that she recently sold her yacht and has plenty of money. She’s also told my dad she has money sitting in a U.S. bank account but can’t access it for one reason or another. So according to her, she’s not broke…she just can’t get to her own money right now. Every time one problem is supposedly solved, another one pops up.

She was supposed to arrive this week, but now the story is that her visa expired and she’s stuck in a hotel. I’m almost certain my dad is paying for whatever this latest emergency is.
The biggest red flag happened when someone called my dad asking for $25,000. They even called him “honey,” which my dad admitted Lesly had never done before. That finally made him suspicious enough to have my sister delete the apps from his phone, but somehow he still believes Lesly herself is real and that someone else is just interfering.

He has already rented a month-long Airbnb for her and her children because she was supposedly moving in. He’s spent thousands already, and we’re terrified this is just the beginning.

Now we’ve gotten copies of documents she sent,, including what looks like a fake yacht sales contract, along with a name, address, and birthdate that we’re trying to verify. None of it is adding up.

My sister and I have tried everything. We’ve shown him articles about romance scams, explained how these scammers work, and pointed out every inconsistency. He listens politely, then comes back with another explanation they’ve given him.

It’s heartbreaking because this isn’t someone who’s lonely and sending a few hundred dollars. This could literally wipe out his retirement.

Has anyone dealt with a parent who was this deep into a romance scam? Was there anything that finally got through to them? At this point we’re running out of ideas, and I honestly feel like we’re watching a slow-motion train wreck.

I think I'm being catfished, but I also think that there's a lot of Truth to what the person is saying.

I met this girl on a dating app, I'm 30M and she's 28, and we ended up swapping numbers after only a couple days of talking on the app. Didn't take long for us to be calling each other, and for the better part of 2 months we would stay up all night talking to each other on the phone, falling asleep whilst talking to each other, watching shows and movies together while on the phone.... In case you haven't caught on yet, we never met and it was all over the phone. We never did a video call, there's my first mistake. There always seemed to be something that came up that would prevent her from meeting, but the things that would come up seem to be valid.

She said she was a doctor, and she was always extremely knowledgeable in her field. Like, very knowledgeable and too quick on the draw for her to be googling stuff on the fly. She definitely seemed to know what she was talking about and was open about not being familiar with other fields of medicine other than her specialty.

Her and I both have kids. Now I suppose it could have all been faked, but the way she spoke to her kids in the moment was all too real. And the way I could hear the older one say my name in the background... Again, it seemed so real. She sent me pictures of herself and her kids. She sent me short videos of her kids. I would reciprocate these, Of course, I'm just saying what she did for me.

All of her pictures looked legit, they all have the same woman in them. They don't strike me as being AI generated at all. Plus the videos. The voices, all the same. Everything was so consistent, no variations. I'm no stranger to AI, I've played around with it plenty. I know what to look for, I'm quite familiar with it.

That being said, I've done some Google image searching and I can't seem to get any matches with what she sent me. I've tried pics of her and also some background people in a couple of them, no luck (she's not on social media conveniently enough, but then neither am I other than here and TikTok). I've done some light research on Doctor verification, either I can't seem to figure it out, that or it's just not tracking. I googled the phone number, it popped up on the White Pages and I even spent the $5 to get a more accurate reading... And the number supposedly belongs to someone who lives in another state, but the area code is of my state. And there's zero other information. However, when I use the white pages and look my own phone number up, there's way more information such as my name and people almost likely related to. Her phone number has absolutely nothing except another name. I know the hospital she works at, or supposedly does, I called them and they don't have anyone with her name that works there.

I feel like I was definitely being catfished here, but again it seems like there are some sprinkles of truth (there are a few other things I could mention but I'm trying not to say EVERYTHING, just trust me) and it's absolutely maddening. She has since called things off, blocked my number I assume, definitely blocked me on Gmail (we had to use Google chat sometimes due to my line of work and not having my cell phone), and neither one of us have been on the app for some time now. I should in theory be able to Just put it in the rearview mirror and continue on with life... But when I say that I did invest a lot of my time over the last couple months, I really really mean it. I have never talked with someone like that before. I have never talked with someone as much before. And I'm talking relationships, family, friends, anybody. Hours and hours and hours and hours. I really opened up to her, she really opened up to me (of what she was saying was true, that is). I want to get to the bottom of it, all I want is a little closure, or at least a bit of truth.

I'm at a loss here. Is there anything else I can do to try and figure this out, or should I just do my best to forget it ever happened? I'm hurt, and I haven't felt this shitty in a while. I really liked her... Or whoever it was.