Catfishing & Fake accounts Considered Dangerous
The first online user account I created was Facebook at the age of 12. Facebook has a restriction on age, where the user has to be older than 13 years old (Protalinski, 2011). According to the Facebook platform, I was still at the age of 12, and I was considered underage. A few years later, I added friends from my school and immediately noticed that my information was wrong. Later I realized that I was catfishing by adding the wrong information to the public. This was my first experience with the catfishing that I had faced without even realizing my crime.
Catfishing is where someone fakes their information to get in a relationship with another person. The virtual image the persons trying catfisher creates with the other person gives them a self-complementation that someone in the world is treating them as a human being. According to one of the case studies, Catfishing is “a deceptive presentation of self in relationships that are supposed to be very close and trusting (Purcell & Stroud, 2018).” I think that Catfishing is very dangerous because the online platforms can be very dangerous where you don't know the other person has a fake account or if they are real. After all, many people create fake accounts. They use catfishing to lure in their prey and all type of information given to the catfisher. According to an article it stated that “Facebook took down 2.2 billion fake accounts at the start of 2019 and that it is nearly double the number (Stewart, 2019).” Imagine how many catfishing cases have been reported in the 2.2 billion accounts taken down because catfishing is becoming popular day by day.
One of the primary reasons I think that catfishing is dangerous is because the stranger that seems very truthful and nice later deceives you to gain personal information to blackmail. In the past four and five years, the RCMP states in an article, “748 people across Canada lost more than $17 million to online dating scams in 2016, up from $16.7 million in 2015(CBC News, 2017).” These are the main reasons I consider catfishing dangerous, luring others to present their personal information and steal other’s money. This method can be a form of cybercrime and blackmailing. Catfishing can cause safety issues because not only will the catfished the compromised, but the information of there family members will be too.
According to the idea of the Heinz Dilemma, which is a very difficult scenario to consider what is wrong and what is right. I think Heinz shouldn't steal the drug because he would have gone to jail and his wife would have been cured, but she would have no one. People like Heinz will do crazy things for those they love. The idea of love is a strong and powerful bond, according to Heinz different scenario presented he would have taken drastic measures to save his wife from unavoidable death. Although considering all ideas of care and relationships I firmly believe catfishing is wrong.
Considering all these reasons, I think Catfishing should be regarded as dangerous, not just in relationships. In general, the method of catfishing is hazardous. When someone innocent looking for a relationship falls prey to the loss of private information, they fall as a victim to blackmailing. I consider this one of the worst crimes; its a sign of betrayal. The person that is in a relationship will become heartbroken.
Citation
Protalinski, E. (2011, May 20). Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook's minimum age limit should be removed. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.zdnet.com/article/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-minimum-age-limit-should-be-removed/
Purcell, A., & Stroud, S. R. (2018, November 15). To Catfish or Not to Catfish? Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2018/11/15/to-catfish-or-not-to-catfish/
Stewart, E. (2019, May 23). Facebook has taken down billions of fake accounts, but the problem is still getting worse. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/23/18637596/facebook-fake-accounts-transparency-mark-zuckerberg-report
News, C. (2017, March 09). Catfishing, romantic scams on the rise, Edmonton detective warns | CBC News. Retrieved September 19, 2020, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/romantic-online-scams-fraud-rising-edmonton-police-detective-warns-1.4017286