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What to Do When Someone's Using Your Face to Catfish Others

“I just got a request follow from a Dan James who is … you.”

A former coworker’s mid-afternoon message left me feeling dumbfounded yet flattered. Upon further inspection, I was able to confirm what I immediately suspected: Someone was using my face to catfish people on Instagram.

Why? Couldn’t tell you, really. I mean, thanks, but dream big. I am a nobody with a following that might break 1K, but is still mediocre at best. Whatever plan “Dan James” had, he (or she, or it — based on the poor grammar in the profile’s bio, this could very well be a spam bot), I’m not sure how the three photos selected of me would help achieve it.

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Regardless, their plan was quickly foiled. After jokingly sending the images to a few friends, insisting that I’d “made it,” Instagram moved quicker than expected. A few reports submitted that the profile was not who they said they were brought it right to its knees, erasing it off the social media platform for good.

But what else could I have done upon discovering that someone was using my face to catfish others? Sure, I couldn’t exactly give Nev Schulman a call, but I figured other actions could be taken in this case.

To find out what those actions are, AskMen spoke to Connell Barrett, dating coach for The League and the founder of DatingTransformation.com, to dive a little deeper on the topic of catfishing (and what to do in a situation like mine).

If You See Someone Using Your Pictures on Social Media, Should You Just Ignore It?

The short and simple answer? Definitely not.

“You might think, ‘Haters gonna hate, scammers gonna scam,’ but imagine someone with bad intentions walking around with your face and your body, interacting with people as you,” says Barrett. “That sounds like a sci-fi movie, but it’s exactly what a catfisher is doing. This creates a real risk to your reputation and can hurt others, depending on what the identity thief’s agenda is. They may be trying to date scam money, verbally abuse women, or traffic in illegal porn — all as you. The potential consequences to you and others are too steep to ignore this.”

So What’s the First Thing to Do?

“Your first instinct may be to flag the account and get it blocked ASAP, but before doing that, gather all the evidence you can — the fake page’s link, the handle, email address, location, age, and screenshots of the stolen photos,” he suggests. “If you rattle the scammer before you gather this evidence, they may block you or hide their profile, making it harder to shut them down. Next, contact the platform or the site host and file an ‘impersonation report.’ All reputable platforms have policies to delete fraudulent accounts. Just be ready to verify your identity and have as much evidence as possible that someone is using your face.”

What If the Social Media Company Won't Take It Down?

As long as you have support to your statement (reporting it from your own profile is certainly solid proof), you should be OK.

“It’s highly unlikely that a top social media company won’t take down a fake profile, assuming you can verify who you are and show that your face is being fraudulently used,” notes Barrett. “They’ll likely need a few days to investigate, but from Tinder to Twitter to Instagram to Facebook, most every social media company follows policies to promptly remove false accounts. It’s in their interest to take down catfishers.”

Should You/Should You Not Reach Out to the Person Directly?

While my catfishing experience was relatively harmless, others might not be so lucky. In some cases, Barrett suggests “sending a cease-and-desist message to the scammer’s inbox.”

“My client had his dating app photos stolen,” he says. “A catfisher used his portraits, selfies and even childhood photos to become “Fake Martin,” all so he could verbally abuse women — calling them ‘bitches,’ ‘whores,’ and the C-word. Typical toxic ‘manosphere’ ugliness. His only goal was to get attractive women to write to him so that he could spew venom at them.”

Barrett’s client utilized a cease-and-desist template he found on the internet, sending a version over through the app to the catfisher.

“It’s a double-barreled approach for maximum leverage: The platform acts on your behalf while you send a threatening note demanding your images be removed,” he continues. “The scammer blocked Martin, but the guy was freaked out enough to take down the pics. A couple days later, the app finished its investigation and deleted the account.”

According to Barrett, catfishers “fear getting caught,” so even the slightest of serious warnings is most likely enough to rattle them.

“Other than such a letter, I don’t recommend communicating with a scammer in an interpersonal way,” he says. “There’s no point in asking them why they did it, or trying to get them to admit it. They’ll just deny everything or block you. To engage with this kind of person is to go down a deep, dark rabbit hole.”

Can Your Friends Do Anything If They've Been Contacted?

Just like in my case, your friends may be the one to signal that there’s someone impersonating you on the internet.

“It’s a smart move to mass-message your social circle and tell them that they might hear from a fake ‘you,’” says Barrett. “This protects your reputation, and if anyone you know hears from the fraudulent account, you’ll have more evidence to ensure it gets shut down.”

Do You Bother Asking Around to See Who Might Have Done it?

“Why bother? It’s a sad, small, dishonest person of low integrity — likely someone you’ve never met and who you don’t want to know,” he adds. “It’s best to get this person out of your head and out of your life as soon as possible.”

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Sean Abrams, Khareem Sudlow