This is not your father’s catfishing. Most people are aware of the TV thing there they invite the predator to meet a kid, they show up and gets busted and its really awkward because everyone has to see that monsters look like normal people.
That is not always what happens but it primes you for the other thing.
Now there is dark catfishing where the pedophiles essentially do the opposite. Pose as a normal person (a 24 year old mom), take someone (29) from a dating app on an ostensibly normal date (Chili’s), and then show up as someone whose makeup is designed to make them look younger but not impossible to be 24 and not so young that it is obvious immediately what is occurring. Then take pictures of you out with someone that they pretend is younger than they said and try to blackmail you with it.
And for context, there is an absurd amount of social engineering that occurs to get a person to this point, especially if you are not aware that it is occurring. Media manipulation, content funneling, set ups in prior relationships. The whole nein yards.
Date unknown February 23, 2026