Phishing Catfishes

Proceed With Caution + Don't Fall For Their BS

Apr 30, 2025

black and yellow fish wall decor — Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

The only kind of catfish I like is filleted, battered, and deep-fried.

But out here on the wacky and wild World Wide Web? They’re slippery, sneaky, and a total pain in the ass.

Every week—hell, every day—some scammy phish tries to slither into my inbox or DMs. They act like long-lost lovers, concerned bankers, or friendly tech support bros.

“Click here!” “Urgent notice!” “Verify your account!”

It’s all the same bullshit: a fake front, a hook, and the hope that you’ll bite.

Stupid fucking phish.

PHISHING + CATFISHING IN 2025

Phishing isn’t just email spam from Nigerian princes anymore (though yes, they’re still around too). These days it’s more sophisticated—and way more dangerous. Think:

Fake social media profiles sliding into your messages with a “Hey cutie 😘”
Texts pretending to be from FedEx or your bank
Emails from lookalike domains (think “paypa1.com” instead of “paypal.com”)
Pop-ups saying your computer has a virus (it doesn’t, but click that link and it soon will)

Phishing is social engineering, and catfishing is its cousin. Same playbook, different endgame: they manipulate emotions, create urgency, or prey on loneliness, hoping you’ll spill your data, send your money, or worse—trust them.

Honestly? All of us are vulnerable. That includes smart people. Creative people. LGBTQ+ folks looking for safe community spaces. Older folks just trying to check their email. Teens trying to buy a concert tee. Anyone who’s distracted, tired, or just too damn trusting.

We all want to believe people are who they say they are. But online, trust needs a filter.

AVOID THE PHISH FRY

Slow down. Scammers want you to act fast. If it’s urgent, it’s probably fake.
Check the source. Hover over links. Look at the actual sender address. If it smells fishy, it probably is.
Never share personal info through email or text. No legit service is going to ask you to “confirm your password” via DM.
Use multi-factor authentication whenever possible. Yes, it’s annoying, but if someone gets your password, it will likely protect you from way more annoying (and costly) things.
Reverse image search. Especially for sexy DMs or dating profiles that feel too good to be true. Catfish hate being reverse-Googled.
Trust your gut. If something feels off, walk away.

If someone really wants to get to know you, they’ll prove it. Slowly. Over time. Without asking for gift cards, logins, or nudes in the first ten minutes.

Be cautious. Be curious. Be a little bit cynical.
And when in doubt? Block. Report. Move on.

The only thing worse than getting catfished…is pretending it can’t happen to you.

Keep calm and fish (safely) on!
Clint 🌈✌️

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ON THIS DAY = APRIL 30

BIRTHDAYS

1820 = Matilda Mary Hays = British actor and writer 🌈
1839 = Tsukioka Yoshitoshi = Japanese artist 🌈
1877 = Alice B. Toklas = American-born memoirist 🌈
1908 = Eve Arden = American actor
1909 = F. E. McWilliam = Irish sculptor and educator
1923 = Percy Heath = American bassist
1926 = Cloris Leachman = American actor and comedian
1938 = Gary Collins = American actor and talk show host
1944 = Jill Clayburgh = American actor
1945 = Annie Dillard = American writer
1946 = Bill Plympton = American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1954 = Jane Campion = New Zealand filmmaker
1956 = Lars von Trier = Danish filmmaker
1969 = Onir = Bengali Indian filmmaker 🌈
1975 = Johnny Galecki = American actor
1976 = Amanda Palmer = American singer-songwriter and pianist
1980 = Sam Heughan = Scottish actor, producer, author, and entrepreneur
1982 = Kirsten Dunst = American actor
1985 = Gal Gadot = Israeli actor and model
1986 = Dianna Agron = American actor and singer

EVENTS

1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first POTUS.
1859 = Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities is first published in the literary periodical All the Year Round in weekly installments until November 26, 1859.
1900 = Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States.
1921 = Marcel Proust publishes the first part of Sodome et Gomorrhe (aka Cities of the Plain), part of his 16-volume opus À la recherche du temps perdu (aka In Search of Lost Time and Remembrance of Things Past). The themes of male and female same-sex passion interwoven into the previous volumes now come to the fore in an extended essay on the homosexual.
1939 = NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.
1939 = The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.
1993 = CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
1997 = Ellen DeGeneres comes out on her eponymous tv show Ellen in
”The Puppy Episode” that drew 42 million viewers.

HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES

PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Charles Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
Charles Dickens