Being catfished has become a dating rite of passage. If you haven’t experienced it, have you even dated in the online modern dating world?

But for those unfamiliar with the concept, catfishing is when someone creates an online dating profile that is effectively fake. Photographs, age, job and, in some instances, even a name are bogus.

A catfish is someone who, one way or another, distorts the truth, and let me say in no uncertain terms: we are not here for it.

Dating, let alone online dating, is complex enough. Throwing some fake profiles into the mix: no thanks. I’m already dodging dodgy men.

A couple of years back there was a new guy on JSwipe who was quite literally chatting to everyone. He was a handsome, eligible Jewish male with the quintessential dating bio and the photos to match. A catch.

Or so it seemed. At least one single girl from every one of my friendship circles was chatting to this guy and they all had an ominously similar story about this suitor who had rocked up on to the Jewish dating scene from nowhere.

Detective that I unofficially am, I began to notice that his conversations with the multiple women didn’t quite tally up.

And I’m not talking the odd fib here and there. He had various careers from a doctor (classic) to a journalist (ironic).

The writing on the wall was his hesitancy to talk to any of the women on the phone, but what ultimately blew his cover was arranging a date with two of my girlfriends on the same night and, of course, not showing up to either.

Put another way, he went from catfish to ghost in a millisecond. Further investigation revealed that the guy wasn’t who he said he was by any stretch of the imagination.

He had used someone else’s photos to forge a fake identity.

Wild, yes, but model catfish.

Online dating

People should be cautious when meeting someone online for the first time (Photo: Getty)

He’d convinced multiple Jewish women they’d met “the one”. Some might call him a genius. I would prefer to call him a big fat liar.

And I’ve had my own catfishing experience, what you could call a rogue moment in my dating history. Some time ago I was dating-dabbling outside the community. I met a guy on Hinge who we shall call Dylan.

Dylan brought some individuality to the table, which felt refreshing. Tick. He was assertive and phoned me regularly. Double tick for good chat.

But when it came to arranging to meet in real life, Dylan became tricksy. When we did meet, my bubble burst: his photos did not quite match those displayed on his Hinge profile.

It was not quite as toxic a situation as that experienced by my friends, but I had still been messed about.

So how do singletons navigate online dating and avoid catfish once and for all?

Well, something tells me we can’t combat the problem completely. But we can keep our wits about us so as to catch a catfish before we’ve been catfished.

If you’re chatting to someone and something feels off or, dare I say, fishy, get on the phone, or FaceTime. Better still, arrange an in-person date as soon as possible.

Alternatively, you could always ask for their social channels and do some general online investigations to suss things out for yourself.