Active daters know that catfishing is an all-too-common problem. Start getting to know someone online, only to find out that they are not who they said they were. At the very least, it’s annoying, and at its worst, it’s downright dangerous.
But bad things can lead to good things, like companies coming in to fill the void with a product. Social Catfish is one of the few services that can help you spot online catfishing and make dating safer and less stressful.
We’ve looked into Social Catfish’s name in detail, and they are who they say they are. Here’s our review of Social Catfish:
What is Social Catfish?
Social Catfish is an online dating investigation service based in California that lets you check if the people you meet online are who they say they are. The company started out as a blog that looked for online dating scams. They still have a lot of great free information about the different scams that have been used on different dating services. Their identity verification service is popular, and the company has been growing quickly. Inc. 5000 called Social Catfish the 118th fastest growing company in the U.S., and the company has grown by 766% in the last three years.
Review of Social Catfish: Pros and Cons
Pro: It’s really easy to use.
Pro: It can look for people in a lot of different ways and it works.
Pro: Results are provided quickly
Con: Sometimes searches don’t work or get stuck.
Con: You have to pay to see all of the facts.
How We Rate Social Catfish
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Pricing Social Catfish
Prices for Social Catfish depend on what services you want, but in general, there is one level of costs if you use the online service yourself (either for social or picture searches) and a whole other level if you hire a Social Catfish Search Specialist.
| Service Type | Social Catfish Costs |
|---|---|
| Social Searches | $5.73/5 Days, then $27.48 per month |
| Image Searches | $5.99/5 Days, then $26.99 per month |
| Search Specialist | A one time fee of $397 |
How to Use Social Catfish
Social Catfish can do searches based on Reverse Name Search, Address Lookup (though it looks like only U.S. addresses are allowed for now), Reverse Image Lookup, Phone Lookup, Email Lookup, and Username Lookup.
Users start a reverse-name search by putting in a name and the place where the person was born. After entering, the user can also choose to limit the results to a certain age group:
Once information is put in, Social Catfish looks for a match by looking at government and school records, news articles, career records, and public databases.
From this first search, Social Catfish will pull a list of online profiles with different pieces of information, such as the person’s city and country of origin, gender, web usernames, account IDs, and possible friends:
As you can see, there isn’t much information available right now. For example, you won’t see full usernames and account IDs, so you can’t quickly learn everything there is to know about the people who come up in your search. At this point, you can get more information by asking for “Complete Results,” which searches chat apps, social media, dating sites, and dating apps. When this report is ready, it shows the number of times the person in question has used a name online, as well as emails, addresses, different phone numbers, Usernames, Relationships, Social Profiles, Bankruptcies, Legal Judgements, Liens, Professional Licences, and Possible Criminal Activity:
Keep in mind that some of this information is free, but the services of Social Catfish cost money. Signing up is required to get the full report:
How Social Catfish Search Specialists Work
If you think you’re being catfished and you can’t find the answers yourself, you can hire a search expert. Search experts use thousands of public data sources, and Social Catfish says they use the same tech and software as the FBI.
Search professionals cost money ($397 for a one-time fee), but depending on your scenario, they are worth it. If you get catfished, you lose time, maybe a lot of money, and your mental health.
Remember that Social Catfish can be used to find out who a date is or to find out who a business is.
FAQs
Is Social Catfish real?
Yes, as we’ve seen in this review of Social Catfish, it’s real and it works. Searches are thorough and cover a lot of ground, and they know a lot about dating site scams (Social Catfish started out as a blog about dating scams).
Is Social Catfish for free?
You can do a basic search for free, but if you want more details, you will have to pay (see our pricing table for Social Catfish above).
How safe is Social Catfish?
Safety is the focus of Social Catfish. It was started to make sure that people who use online dating sites know they are talking to real people.
How do I stop using Social Catfish?
Yes, you can stop Social Catfish, but you’ll have to call customer service because there’s no way to do it automatically.
How Does Social Catfish Work?
Social Catfish checks the names, email addresses, real addresses, phone numbers, usernames, and pictures of people online to make sure they are who they say they are.
Is there anything else like Social Catfish? Is there something else like Social Catfish?
Yes, there are a few good alternatives to Social Catfish that you might want to check out. Some of these sites are more general identity-checking sites than dating sites. Services like TruthFinder, Intelius, and Peoplelooker are some of the most well-known rivals.
