Catfish accounts are fake social media accounts that steal your photos, identity or brand to use for their own benefit. These accounts have been growing rampantly across all social media platforms, and users have few tools with which to remove them.
There are three main types of culprits behind catfish accounts.
The first way to reduce the impact of catfish is to report them as soon as they pop up.
Most commonly they are fans, who may believe that imitation is flattery and want to “help” you by taking part in your promotion; they may also just want your attention.
Then, there are the solo scammers who create accounts to trick fans with one-on-one relationships and request money or solicit private images from victims.
Lastly are bots, which execute scams on a large scale. They create many accounts using technology that goes through image databases and seeks variations on your name. The accounts are created quicker than you can take them down and usually point to a fake landing page where they solicit money.
In almost all cases, social platforms will never disclose the person behind a catfish account due to their privacy policy, leaving most creators and victims in the dark.
CATFISH HARM MANY ASPECTS OF YOUR BRAND
Catfish affect more than just your earnings, and it’s important to understand the full scope of the damage they can do. Your reputation is impacted when you are targeted by fake accounts. Catfish may spread false narratives about you and misspeak on your behalf without those following knowing if it’s really you. They impact the trust your fans have with you. Fans who are victims of scams become hesitant to purchase your content and support you in the future.
Lastly, your SEO is impacted, especially if you are an NSFW creator. You may be shadow-banned so that your real account does not show up when searching your name on Instagram and Twitter. Catfish, on the other hand, are popping up first and gaining followers, notoriety and popularity. This may even lead to brands, fans and fellow creators tagging your catfish instead of your real handles.
THE CHALLENGE OF REMOVING CATFISH
Catfish accounts violate copyright law protections. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects digital content such as images and videos. With a DMCA takedown notice sent to thwart a catfish, creators can request the removal of an avatar photo, header or social media posts.
But if you want the entire profile completely deleted, not just the images, you will need to prove to websites like Instagram and Twitter that a catfish is breaching their terms of service.
Most of these websites use AI to assess terms of service breaches, and these programs are usually not smart enough to recognize a catfish. This is why, when you report a catfish account using Instagram or Twitter’s reporting system, you rarely see much movement. Even when cases are escalated to humans, their support can be hit-and-miss.
REPORTING A TOS BREACH IS RARELY ENOUGH
A few patterns that AI and social media support agents look for, when making a determination about whether an account is violating your copyright, are: whether the catfish is using a photo of your face or your trademarked logo, whether they’re copying your posts verbatim and whether you have a long-standing profile that can be scanned for similar media. However, since sex workers are so often deleted, leveraging your rep on a social media platform may prove challenging. And if a catfish uses the terms “fan” or “fan account” in their profile description, a platform may refuse to remove the account as it may not violate its TOS.
REDUCING THE IMPACT OF CATFISH ACCOUNTS
The first way to reduce the impact of catfish is to report them as soon as they pop up; mass reporting can be extra helpful in pushing AI to recognize an account is fake. You can also use the catfish report forms that platforms provide. However, if you are a creator, never provide your ID or personal information to social media platforms to “prove” you are legitimate, as you never know how that information may be stored or who has access to it.
Rather, if it comes to this stage, we recommend you use a takedown service that will protect your identity and report for you. They can also do the copyright claims should the platform not want to remove the profile; that way, the images will come down, leaving an empty profile.
To further reduce the impact of catfishing, create profiles with your main handle on all major social media sites — even if you don’t keep them active — so you can retain your brand name and presence across the web. You can also help your fans and brands find you by watermarking your content with your handle and creating a landing page with all your legitimate links.
Catfish are not going away anytime soon, but following these guidelines should help you keep them at bay. If things get out of hand, or for extra peace of mind, you can always talk to a pro.
Jessica Hookimaw is the marketing and relations coordinator at brand protector BranditScan. She can be reached through @BranditScan on Twitter and Instagram, or by email at jessica@branditscan.com.
