Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Alec Couros was used by scammers to catfish thousands of women and he's a victim too

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

The truly sad thing about this story is that it's running in 2000, some 13 years after Alec Couros's photos first started to be used in catfishing scams ('catfishing' is where a person assumes a fake ID and pretends to be a potential romantic partner in an effort to defraud you). He "estimates the number of victims to be in the thousands." Though social networks claim to be taking action against it, I've watched Couros's efforts over the years to stop the problem come to no avail. Via Aaron Davis, who recommends more reading: posts by Alan Levine, Dean Shareski and Alec Couros himself. Also the case of Lydia Abdelmalek provides another detailed case.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 15, 2024 8:26 p.m.

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