How to Spot Catfishers / Spammers?

We've all been there. Talking to this smoking hot girl who hits all the right check boxes but you have this nagging feeling at the back of your head that something isn't right. Maybe the person you're talking is a catfisher. If they then ask you to pay or to click on a link they are a scammer.

So how can you spot one in time before losing valuable time and energy. I' going to write a few things you can do and try. This is not an all inclusive list and you may not be able to follow all these steps or it's possible none of them apply.

• Look at the writing style - Do they sound coherent and in sane mind? Or du dey tlk like this huney, pls chk out my sxy body hihi > > >

That's not to say there are sophisticated catfishers and spammers who type that will put a linguistic professor to shame.

Remember most users are here to have discreet fun. They want something casual. Exaggerated excitement!!!! and desperation to talk to you are not is not something that is seen in 99% of users.

• Look at the users post history - Where all have they posted? How often are they posting? What type of posts are they? Are they spamming their kik id or snapchat id everywhere so people can add them?

Post history is a good way to quickly way to have a "feel" for the user. Keep in mind this does not always work, as throwaway accounts are just as easy to make as it is to delete. But take a look. Was the account created in the past 15 mins and in that time the user has spammed the same post with their handles on a bunch of subreddits? (conversely is the account 3-4 etc years old with zero account posts and comments? It could be a stolen/hacked/bought account) What subreddits are they? If they are certain dedicated kik and snapchat subreddits then ask yourself, is the user really that desperate to talk to someone?

Speaking about post history, have they posted in r/Gonewild or r/Gonemild or any such subs where they are verified? If yes, great - there's a fairly good chance they are real! I say fairly and I will explain why so shortly.

Okay you've taken the plunge and have messaged the user - be it via Reddit PMs, Kik, Snapchat, telepathy, snail mail, telegrams. Can you still stay safe? Yes of course.

• Live Kik Images - Okay this is something like the statement "if the teacher doesn't arrive in 15 mins, we are legally allowed to leave" which everyone has heard someone say it and everyone believes it when in fact it's as far as from the truth as possible.

So live Kik images, I'm sure you know what it is, maybe you've even asked for them before and have received a picture which must have been taken just a few seconds before. Oh well that must be the user is real right?

NO

This is not true at all and don't believe anyone when they say "but but it'a a live camera pic! How could it be faked?!". In fact the person who sent it to you will try to convince you as well. "I just sent you a live pic, I am real!", "How can I be fake if I sent you a live pic?"

Well I'll tell you how. Modified Kik apps exist. These apps have whatever code there is in the app that allows you to send gallery images as "live camera" images..

I am also aware that some KIK clients allow the user to prevent pictures they sent from being saved or from being forwarded. So if you see that you can't save the picture or that the forward option is not available, think about this. Saving a picture will be useful and I will be covering why so shortly as well.

• Asking for a picture verification with name - This method is essentially asking the user to verify by sending a picture with the date and their username. Remember I talked about getting verified on r/Gonewild or r/Gonemild or any one of those subs where people can get verified? That's the process the mods follow to verify someone along with some other requirements - I'm just skimming this. However, I'm just saying Photoshop does exist. There just may be someone out there who has a template ready in Photoshop with the picture and they just add text to it, save as image - transfer it to the phone and send it as a "live camera" picture. The excuse for the delay will be "give me 10 mins and I'll send it" or "later bby, I'm going out".

How can we mitigate this? One decent method that a legit user should have no issue doing is doing a pose or holding something along with the verification card. For example, stand one one leg/stand against a wall with an apple/pink bra/paper aeroplane in one hand and the verification card in another. This reduces the chance the user can use stolen pics or "e-whoring image packs" from sites that provide such things.

• Email scams - Posts asking for slaves and for you to leave your email can be safely regarded as scams or email address collectors. There is absolutely no reason for you to "leave your email address" in order to be dominated. There are plenty of subs available for safe domination without needing your email address. Like, who would have thought?

• Skype/Camming - "Oh my camera does not work/ it's broken." I think we've all heard this one before right? And then they try and prove they are real by sending some random unverified picture. Dirtyr4r chat exists, you can always use this to cam up with the other user and see if they really are who they say they are.

• Picture Analysis Tools - Now I know the majority of you are lazy and won't do this but honestly this is a rather vital step!

Picture analysis websites exist people. Use them!

http://fotoforensics.com/

http://www.imageforensic.org

Both are great websites. Simply save the image you got that has the verification text and upload it here. The websites will analyse the image. Head over to the ELA tab.

A normal unedited will look fairly even in pixels. Altered parts of the image will stand out. Read this for a more in-depth guide - http://fotoforensics.com/tutorial-ela.php

Another website that I use all the time is www.tineye.com. I even have a bookmarklet so I don't need to open the website. This is a reverse image search done by pixels. So even if the picture is stolen from Gonewild and cropped, it should be be able to find the link to the post. If tineye can't find an image, maybe it's an original or it's been heavily altered that it couldn't find anything similar. If it did well you best get out of there right away.

If the person you've been talking to passed all of this, I say there's a good chance it's legit. If you have some doubts, remember trust your instincts and not your dick.

This was decent enough guide to spotting a catfish. I hope this comes in handy as there seems to be an influx of such posts on here. Please please report such posts and send a modmail with proof that. Writing a comment on the post does not bring it to our attention. I know you guys watch the /new queue like hawks so if you can all contribute it's be great!