Anon asks: You seem pretty popular on Twitter & Instagram. Why don't you show your face?

Before I provide my response to this question, I would like to do a little icebreaker (shout out to my fellow educators and writers out there who uses icebreakers and hooks to grab your attention).

Check out the cover image of this series below. What's the first thing you see? Keep that in mind, write it down if you have to, and read on. We'll go back to that icebreaker at the end.
 

On why I choose to not disclose my face as an author or anywhere online: The internet is a scary place. Just the other day I received a DM from a "sexy guy" wanting to "get to know" me. Hormones aside, my Scorpio senses were tingling. A cute guy, wanting to get to know me? The world must have gone mad.

All jokes aside, the dude had less than a hundred followers, recent posts without any caption whatsoever, his username had more than one number on it, and his following list consisted of women.

Oh, I thought beaming with pride, he's definitely a cat-fisher or scam artist. Ignoring his message for a few hours, I did a further sweep of his profile, and sure enough, I found his downfall:

A photo he posted of "himself" holding a mug with his name on it and seemingly advertising a coffee brand.

The thing is, it doesn't take a genius to put all the pieces together especially seeing all the red flags earlier on... and in case you've missed it let's recap (because I apparently love making and why the hell not?)

Exhibit A: He's hot... like really hot.

Exhibit B: For someone who is that hot, you would think he already snagged himself quite a large following.

Exhibit C: There are multiple numbers in his name.

Exhibit D: He ONLY follows women (some of which are my author friends on Instagram).

Exhibit E: He is shown to be advertising a coffee brand (and if anything, that post should have gone viral. Most brands take pride in advertisements and don't mind making their presence known should an "influencer" endorse their product).

Anyway, seeing the name on the mug, I now had a name to work with. I immediately slithered on to IG's search engine, searched his name, and (dramatic music plays in the background) would you look at that:

We have a match.

Mr. "Fake" but sexy, decided to copy a popular influencer (who I haven't heard of, but is fairly popular in his corner of the internet). I knew the poser account wasn't legit because the real person on the photo had a verification badge on his profile.

Gathering all the evidence I found, I decided to slap it on Mr. Fake's face the moment he messaged me again. He of course didn't take the hint and I had to blatantly tell him I know he is a fake, snake, poser, cat-fisher, scammer, and whatever colorful word ever invented to describe these little minions from hell.

He insisted that he wasn't a poser, and kept evading my questions. If he really wasn't a poser account, why did he have images of a popular person? Why did he change his name? Why was he following only women?

The dude was adamant and it came to the point that because he refused to prove how authentic he is, I told him "If you really are the same person, will you be able to verify that it truly is you once I message or report this account to "your other account"?

In the heat of the moment, he agreed only to delete his reply seconds later. I reached out to the real person (though I am assuming he gets spam messages on a daily basis, and who can blame him? I'm a nobody) and confirmed that the person isn't who he says he is and "Mr. Fake" hasn't messaged me since.

Anon asks: You seem to be a pro at this. Do you get cat-fished a lot?

I get DMs similar to this every day and though I never entertain most messages from random people, I felt compelled to do so to kick at least one of these idiots in the ass. Have I fallen for at least one of these cat-fishers schemes? I wouldn't want to brag, but no. Maybe it's because I have a lot of trust issues (you probably wouldn't want to know or care), but that's a story for another day.

I'm also not the only victim of these "low lives" preying on unsuspecting women (or men) for sure. I've heard from author friends who had their faces stolen by poser accounts, even have their poser accounts follow me enough times to differentiate between them.

It bothers me that people like these exist, hence why I do not post any of my personal pictures online or use my real picture on all my author accounts to prevent my face and identity being stolen like countless others.

To the dude (or woman, since scam artists know no gender) I see you.

You've exposed yourself as an amateur. Not everyone is as gullible you may think. Your mistake is that you happened to message someone who is

1) A writer who knows how to investigate

2) A Scorpio who knows how to investigate

3) A person who has great attention to detail and freelances as a proofreader!

So why don't I show my real face online?

In case I've bored you too much to skip to the end, I'll recap: the world is a scary place. There are people out there who can easily steal your identity and use it for their selfish or sick gain.

Imagine having your picture posted on some porn site. Imagine it plastered on offensive "weight-loss" or "date curvy women" ads without your permission. Imagine a cat-fisher stringing you along with the idea of love, only to find out they're trying to steal your personal information or worse, prey on you.

The internet and social media is a great place to express your true self and your opinions, but times are changing and you can't be too careful. Call me paranoid. Call me sensitive, but I won't let anyone steal my identity. 

So I urge you to practice caution when dealing with people online. Learn to protect you and your personal information. If possible keep your personal pictures or social media accounts private. You'll thank yourself later.

Enjoyed my debut installment? Chime in on the comments on what type of content/topic you want to read next, I would love to know your thoughts and include them in my future posts! Also, what was the first thing you noticed from the cover? Did you see a face? Leave a comment!