How to spot a catfish & what to do about it

A catfish is a person who uses a fake profile to pretend to be someone else. They do it to trick people online – sometimes for money, attention or revenge.

If you think you’ve found a catfish, here’s how to block and report them. We take reports like this seriously, so we investigate every single one.

There’s lots of behaviour you can watch out for. For example, a catfish might:

• Ask you for money.
• Refuse to video call or meet up with you.
• Have social media profiles that look brand new.
• Share stories or experiences that don’t add up.
• Use your photos or someone else’s, like a celebrity’s.
• Add a fake location to their profile.

And don’t worry; we’ve got your back. If we suspect a catfish, we require them to get verified. We’ll hide their profile and block access to their account until they do.

We also regularly check every photo on Badoo and compare them to photos of celebrities. That way, we can spot and remove fake profiles as soon as possible.

Need help? We’re here if you need us.

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