Behind this deception called catfishing is usually a person who, for various reasons, wants to cover their tracks online as much as possible. These can be fake profiles with inaccurate data, as well as a profile photo and images stolen from other people. But catfishing can even go further: we start by creating fake individual profiles and we end up forming a network of fake profiles, fake friend lists and fake biographies.
Catfishing is particularly common on social media and on dating sites such as Tinder. Catfishing is related to a deception technique called deepfake where computers use deep learning, machine learning and computer generated images (CGI) to incorporate the faces of real people into fake video footage.