Catfishing is when someone lies about their identity or pretends to be someone else on the Internet. In some cases, people will impersonate celebrities or other famous individuals. But it could be as simple as someone lying about their age, gender, name or other such details.
Catfishing is sometimes a harmless prank, but it can lead to some serious issues. For instance, there have been situations where people have found themselves accused of sex crimes that they had no idea they were committing. This could give them a permanent record and put them on the sex offenders list for the rest of their life.
Lying about age
There is one example of this that has already occurred. A 19-year-old male teenager went on a dating app and connected with another teenager who claimed to be 17 years old. The two talked on the app and decided to meet up in person. They engaged in a sexual encounter and then both went their separate ways.
But it later came to light that the young woman was not 17 years old. She was only 14 years old. The other teenager claimed that he had no idea, but he had violated numerous laws by having a sexual encounter with a minor. He was arrested and charged, and he had to try to fight to clear his name, claiming that he never had any intent to do anything wrong and wasn’t even aware that he was doing so.
This is just one example, but it does show how complicated a criminal case can be. Those who are facing charges need to be aware of all their defense options.