http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish_(film)
Probably itself a "fake documentary": "why the filmmakers would begin obsessively documenting Nev's online relationship so early on."
That's actually a common theme in a lot of documentaries, including critically acclaimed ones.
It seems like it would be easy to verify that a given message is from a particular internet pseudonym, or to construct a challenge that would be easy for a real person to respond to, but difficult for a catfish. We've had proof of life from kidnappers seeking ransoms before the Internet even existed, after all.
If you ever watched the Catfish movie or the MTV show, you'll notice that the common element is that the victims all have an overwhelming desire for their relationship to be non-fraudulent, to the point where they actively ignore any and all warning signs. Is there something that people with low technical ability can do to verify online counterparties that cannot be affected by their desire for the results to come out in a particular way?
(That, and as a writer, it really kind of makes me want to see the "intuitive narrative conclusion": the blogger and the victim becoming real friends. But it's left without that resolution, because that's what life really is like.)
In the most common form, the conman finds a guy on a dating site, and pretends to be a girl who is interested. The relationship escalates for a few months, including swapping risque photos, until they try to meet in person (the fictional identity is always several states away). The conman than uses the pretense of logistical barriers and bad luck to extort cash from the mark, while delaying the in-person meeting ('my connecting flight through Detroit canceled, and I don't have money for a hotel! please wire me two hundred dollars ;_;'). The mark gets increasingly distraught and desperate, and is too emotionally involved to realize he is being lied to.
Probably the most famous catfishing case in the last year was college football player Manti Te`o's fictional dead girlfriend (which does not completely follow the textbook outline above): http://deadspin.com/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-hear...
Personally, I can't get past the fact of falling for someone online. Just today I met one of my online professors and it was awkward, yet online we're both very chatty.
They all have various somewhat complicated reasons for "catfishing." These are people who 1)agree to meet/give up their true selves 2)agree to appear on TV
Some people do it for revenge.
Some do it for escape.
Some do it because they have self esteem and body issues and don't mean any harm to the person they catfish.
One guy admitted doing it to "brush up on his game" or something of that nature.
One person was catfished by her best friend who set up the fake profile to help get her out of a serious depression after (if I remember) a death of someone close. The friend even went so far as to have her male cousin be the voice.
Some people do it because they know the person in real life, have secret feelings for them but won't admit it to them, so they create a fake profile to catfish the person and act out their fantasies that way.
It is an interesting look into human nature if nothing else. Some mean harm, but many do not. It is a common theme in the body image catfishers to say "Everything I told you is true, my feelings are real, I just look different."
Of course - some will also do it for money!
It's a shame too, because he's not a dumb guy at all.
It originates from a movie, and is also now a TV show.
C'est la vie...
