Someone used my photos to catfish men. I didn’t change how I posted, and it just happened again.

Courtesy of Victoria Featherstone Pearce Victoria Featherstone Pearce is a UK animal-rights activist and model.   Her pictures were used by catfishers five years ago, and again more recently.   This is Featherstone Pearce’s story, as told to Kelly Burch.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Victoria Featherstone Pearce. It has been edited for length and clarity. After I had just gotten married five years ago, I was surprised when a friend messaged me the link to a Twitter profile I had never seen.

The headline picture was of me on a trip to Italy, the one I got engaged during. The profile picture was me with a tiny rescue dog in my lap. But the name wasn’t mine, and the bio — “looking for a serious relationship” — certainly didn’t describe me.

My likeness was being used by a catfisher, someone looking to lure people into false relationships and probably scam them, too.  I’m in the UK, but I had seen the MTV show “Catfish. ” The stories were so outrageous that I thought they were made for TV.

But it was happening to me in a roundabout way.   I didn’t know how to feel. At first, I wanted to laugh.

I’m 51 now and was in my mid-40s at the time. I’m no spring chicken, so it felt oddly complimentary that a catfisher was using my pictures.  Then I got a bit creeped out.

I’m not one to worry, but it seems to me that catfishers play a risky game. What if they meet up with someone dangerous or make someone so enraged that they get bent on revenge? I realized there was some risk for me, too. My husband is extremely level-headed, but I could easily see a martial blowup if a less even-tempered man found a profile with a picture of his new wife “looking for love.

“I reported the page and got it taken downDespite all that, catfishing didn’t make me change how I posted my pictures online. I’m the founder of a dog-rescue charity, K-9 Angels. I need to be active online to attract volunteers and donors.

I reported the catfish page and moved on when it was taken down. But just last week, I got another message, this one from a stranger. It was a screenshot of a dating profile containing my likeness.

It also had the WhatsApp number of a woman the person said tried to scam him out of money.  This time, I didn’t know what to think. I haven’t dealt with this catfisher yet.

I don’t want drama in my life, and it’s going to take time and emotional effort to have the fake profile taken down. At the same time, I don’t want pictures of me floating around online attached to false information. That undermines the carefully crafted public image I’ve made for myself and my charity.

I was also a little worried that I was the target of a scam. The world has seen just how sophisticated these catfishers can be. I don’t want to be scammed myself.

This is a risk to online lifeWhen you look at a few of my pictures online, it’s clear I’ve led a pretty glamorous life. But that’s not what my day-to-day life looks like. Realistic photos would show me out in the yard using a pooper-scooper to clean up after my seven dogs.

 But scammers don’t want that: They want the images that seem too good to be true. The whole thing is bizarre to me and just a little creepy. Unfortunately, anyone can take a screenshot and steal anybody’s images.

I’ve decided to keep putting myself out there to prioritize the work I care about. Featherstone Pearce is a model, writer, passionate vegan, and cofounder of the K-9 Angels dog rescue.  Read the original article on Insider.