Is catfishing illegal? What the law says in the US and UK

Updated October 5, 2026 · 15 min read

In the US states we checked and in England and Wales, inventing a person online is not a crime by itself. It becomes one at a few clear points: money, threats to share images, a minor, a real person's identity, or harassment. The table below says which law applies, and the last section says where to report.

In the US states we checked and in England and Wales, pretending to be someone else online is not a crime on its own, but what the fake identity is used for often is. What the word means and how to tell is on catfishing. The facts here are the same for both people who search the question: the one who was catfished and the one who did the catfishing.

Not legal advice. State laws differ; Scotland and Northern Ireland differ from England and Wales. Checked October 5, 2026.

Jump to the scenario table

Is catfishing illegal? The short answer

Catfishing is using a fake online identity to deceive someone, usually someone who thinks a relationship is starting. In both countries the law mostly leaves the lie alone and looks at what it was for: money, a threat to share images, contact with a child, a real person’s borrowed identity, or messages that keep coming after a clear no.

Two people can be harmed. One is the person who was catfished. The other is the person whose name and photos were used, and the US impersonation statutes below are written mainly for them. Lying about yourself, with an old photo or an extra inch, is kittenfishing. That is a different thing from inventing a person, though a lie about yourself told to get money can still be fraud.

On Mumsnet, a British parenting forum, a thread started July 6, 2022 (about 9 replies) asked whether catfishing should be a crime. One reply put the table in a sentence: “If they use it to scam then it’s already illegal.” (Mumsnet, 2022)

When is catfishing a crime in the US?

Two kinds of law do the work: state statutes on impersonating a real person, and federal laws on what any fake profile is used for.

The four state statutes we read on the legislatures’ own sites:

• Texas makes it a third-degree felony to use “the name or persona of another person” to create a web page or send messages on a social networking site or other website, “without obtaining the other person’s consent and with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten any person” (Texas Penal Code § 33.07).
• California covers anyone who “knowingly and without consent credibly impersonates another actual person” online “for purposes of harming, intimidating, threatening, or defrauding another person”. Subdivision (d) sets a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in county jail, or both (California Penal Code § 528.5).
• Louisiana uses similar wording, “another actual person”, with a fine of $250 to $1,000, 10 days to six months in jail, or both (Louisiana R.S. 14:73.10).
• New York makes it a class A misdemeanor to impersonate “another by communication by internet website or electronic means with intent to obtain a benefit or injure or defraud another” (New York Penal Law § 190.25).

Our reading: in the states we checked, lying about yourself alone falls outside the Texas, California and Louisiana texts, which need another actual person’s identity plus intent to harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten. New York’s wording is broader and does not say “actual person”; whether it reaches an invented identity is a question for a lawyer. So is whether stolen photos alone count as a “persona”.

Federal law does not ask whose face is on the profile:

• Wire fraud covers “any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses”, with up to 20 years in prison (18 U.S.C. § 1343).
• Extortion by a threat “to injure the property or reputation” of someone, sent with intent to extort money or anything of value, carries up to two years (18 U.S.C. § 875).
• Cyberstalking covers a course of conduct online, with intent to harass or intimidate, that causes or would be expected to cause “substantial emotional distress” (18 U.S.C. § 2261A).
• Enticing a minor into sexual activity that is a crime carries “not less than 10 years or for life” (18 U.S.C. § 2422).
• Intimate images: the TAKE IT DOWN Act, enacted May 19, 2025, made publishing nonconsensual intimate images punishable by up to 2 years for images of adults and 3 for images of minors. It also covers threats to publish made “for the purpose of intimidation, coercion, extortion, or to create mental distress” (47 U.S.C. § 223).

Can you go to jail for catfishing? Yes, when it is fraud, extortion or involves a minor. On September 1, 2022, the Justice Department announced a 9-year federal sentence for a man who, between October 2016 and March 2021, targeted women he met “through online dating forums” by falsely claiming to be a physician, for a loss of “over $1.3 million to over 30 women”, after he pleaded guilty to twenty-five counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering (DOJ, 2022). On May 6, 2024, it announced 240 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for a man who, in its words, “catfished” his victims, who were minors, by posing as a teenage girl (DOJ, 2024). “Catfishing” was in the headline. The charge he had pleaded guilty to was possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

Is catfishing illegal in the UK?

Not as an offense of its own in England and Wales, where the sections below apply. In the House of Lords on October 30, 2024, Lord Stevenson of Balmacara said: “as a survivor of the seven-year long period during which the Online Safety Act was developed, I have to confess that I do not think we ever came across the word ‘catfishing’.” He asked: “When will we see the necessary offence on the statute book?” The minister, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, said she “had to check the definition” before coming in. She said “the online world is not a lawless environment”, noted the Fraud Act, and added: “we are keeping this under review in case any further legislation is required.” No new offense was promised (Hansard, 2024).

Petitions have not changed that. The one that ranks on Google, created March 13, 2026, states that “Catfishing is not currently a specific offence in UK law.” It was rejected on April 13, 2026 as a duplicate (Petition 764252). The petition it duplicated closed on August 10, 2026 with 51 signatures (Petition 756069). A 2023 petition closed with 144 (Petition 633954), and one from 2017 closed on May 3, 2017 with 13 (Petition 188163). None reached 10,000 signatures, and none has a government response.

What does apply, mainly in England and Wales:

• Fraud. A person is in breach of section 2 if he “dishonestly makes a false representation” intending “to make a gain for himself or another” or “to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss”. A representation “may be express or implied” (Fraud Act 2006, s.2). The false representation plus dishonest intent can be the offense, so money does not have to arrive.
• False messages. Since January 31, 2024, the false communications offense covers a message conveying “information that the person knows to be false”, sent intending “to cause non-trivial psychological or physical harm to a likely audience”, without reasonable excuse (Online Safety Act 2023, s.179). Our reading: a lie told to keep someone interested is unlikely to meet that; we cannot say it never does.
• Harassment. “A person must not pursue a course of conduct (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other.” The offense carries up to six months, a level 5 fine, or both (Protection from Harassment Act 1997, ss.1 and 2).
• Image threats. Threatening to share a photo or film that “shows, or appears to show” someone “in an intimate state”, meaning them to fear it will happen or reckless about that, is an offense carrying up to 2 years. The prosecution need not prove “that the photograph or film mentioned in the threat exists” (Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.66B). With a demand, blackmail can apply: “any unwarranted demand with menaces”, up to fourteen years (Theft Act 1968, s.21).
• Children. An adult who sends a sexual communication to someone under 16 for sexual gratification faces up to 2 years (Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.15A); meeting a child after grooming carries up to 10 (Sexual Offences Act 2003, s.15).

January 31, 2024 also retired two older offenses. The parts of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 covering threats and information known to be false were repealed that day (Malicious Communications Act 1988, s.1), as were the false-message offenses in s.127(2)(a) and (b) of the Communications Act 2003 (Communications Act 2003, s.127). Some of the pages we read still cite them. The CPS guidance says: “For communications offences committed on or after 31 January 2024, the offence under section 179 OSA 2023 should be considered.” (CPS, 2026)

Scotland has its own criminal law, which we did not check. The s.179 offense extends to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the harassment, blackmail and sexual offense sections above are England and Wales law. Report Fraud’s site says: “If you live in Scotland, please report via 101.” (Report Fraud, undated)

Can you sue someone for catfishing you?

In some US states, yes. California’s statute adds a civil route: “a person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of subdivision (a) may bring a civil action against the violator for compensatory damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief” (California Penal Code § 528.5). Washington’s 2012 civil statute applies when someone “impersonates another actual person on a social networking website or online bulletin board”, intentionally and without consent, to deceive for harassment, threats, intimidation, humiliation or fraud, and the impersonation “proximately caused injury to the actual person”, defined as “a living individual”. Remedies include actual damages and injunctive and declaratory relief (RCW 4.24.790). Our reading: both statutes are built around an actual person’s identity, so the person whose name and photos were used has the clearer claim under them.

In the UK, the example is the case behind the Netflix documentary Sweet Bobby. According to 5RB, the barristers’ chambers that acted for the claimant, the claim was issued in October 2020 and “brought in misuse of private information, harassment, and under the GDPR”. It was “settled, by the payment of compensation and the making of private apology, by a Court Order dated 14 June 2021”, and 5RB describes it as “thought to be the first successful civil claim relating to a cat-fishing scam in this country” (5RB, 2024). That is counsel’s own account. Kingsley Napley, a law firm, wrote on January 8, 2025 that the claimant “was initially told that a crime had not taken place” (Kingsley Napley, 2025). We found no criminal case.

What happens if you get caught catfishing?

It depends on the row. In the statutes we checked, the top row of the table, an invented person with nothing asked for, is usually not a crime by itself. Each of the other rows can be, and the two US cases above ended in sentences of 9 and 20 years. The person whose photos were used may be able to sue, in California and Washington for example, and the Sweet Bobby claim in the UK ended in compensation.

On The Student Room, a UK student forum, a thread started February 24, 2017 (about 20 replies on its first page) asked whether catfishing should be made illegal, and one reply asked: “Would it not be covered by existing fraud laws.” (The Student Room, 2017a). Another, started March 4, 2017 (about 20 replies on its first page), came from a former catfish asking for help not to start again (The Student Room, 2017b).

What to do if you’ve been catfished

1. Save the evidence first. Screenshots with dates, the profile’s username, any phone numbers or emails used, and every payment record, before you unmatch or block.
2. Report the profile in the app. Tinder sets out its process on its “How to Report” page (Tinder, undated). Bumble says “We aim to resolve reports made in the app within 48 hours of filing” and “All reports are anonymous so the reported person won’t find out who flagged their account.” (Bumble, undated).
3. Report the crime, if there is one. In the US, to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3, undated) and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov (FTC, undated). In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to Report Fraud, which replaced Action Fraud on December 4, 2025 and kept the phone number, 0300 123 2040 (GOV.UK, 2025). In Scotland, to the police on 101 (Report Fraud, undated).
4. Threats, anything involving a child, and danger are police matters. In an emergency, 999 in the UK and 911 in the US.
5. Use the image service that fits. StopNCII is for people who were “over 18 years old in the image”; it takes hashes only from “the person in the content”, and “the images will not leave your device” (StopNCII, undated). Take It Down, from NCMEC, is for images taken under 18, and “You can remain anonymous while using the service” (NCMEC, undated). In the UK, Childline’s Report Remove is for “young people under 18 in the UK” reporting sexual images of themselves (Childline, undated).
6. Pay no one who offers to recover the money. The IC3 says it “does not work with any non-law enforcement entity, such as law firms or crypto services, to recuperate lost funds or investigate cases” and “will never directly contact you for information or money” (IC3, undated).

A reverse image search shows whether a profile’s photos appear elsewhere under another name. A match says the photos are borrowed. No match proves little either way.

The counts below are complaints and reports, not measures of how common catfishing is. The FBI’s IC3 report for 2025, published in 2026, lists 23,159 complaints in its confidence/romance category, with $929.3 million in reported losses, up from 17,910 complaints in 2024, and “more than 75,000 submissions regarding sextortion” (IC3, 2026). In the UK, City of London Police said on May 5, 2026 that 10,784 romance fraud reports were made to Report Fraud in 2025, 29% more than in 2024, with more than £102 million lost and an average of £9,500 per victim (Report Fraud, 2026). In a Pew Research Center survey of 6,034 US adults, run July 5 to 17, 2022 and published February 2, 2023, 52% of online dating users “think they have encountered a scammer” (Pew Research Center, 2023). Sweden’s 2025 figure is in our news piece on romance fraud in Sweden in 2025.

A second Mumsnet thread, started March 28, 2023 (about 18 replies), came from someone catfished six years earlier: “Is it worth reporting to the police now or is it too late?” Replies asked what crime there would be to report, and one said: “That’s not illegal though, and neither is catfishing.” (Mumsnet, 2023). The table at the top is the long version of that reply.

Patterns that can come before a request for money have their own pages: love bombing for affection that arrives fast and heavy, future faking for a meeting that keeps being promised and moved, and red flags for the rest.