Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Chronicle Live
Chronicle Live
National
Michelle Morgan Davies & Sara Nichol

Newcastle fitness coach fears catfishes using her snaps on Tinder could ruin her business

A fitness coach fears damage could be done to her business after catfishes set up dating profiles using photos of her.

Sarah Harker, from Newcastle, initially thought it was amusing when a pal spotted her image on dating app Tinder.

But the 32-year-old didn't see the funny side for long when she shared the screenshot with her followers and more fake accounts using her pictures were uncovered.

Go here for the very latest breaking news updates from across the North East

Sarah said: "I first received a text from my friend with a screenshot of the Tinder profile and I laughed.

"If I'm honest I was more offended that they put my age at 38. But once I shared that picture with my 7,000 followers on Instagram people started messaging me to say they'd seen me on other sites.

"Whilst it could be seen as a form of flattery it’s also extremely dangerous for my business as people may believe that these profiles are a representation of me and I have no idea what is being said in messages being sent from these accounts.

A fitness and lifestyle coach, Sarah Harker, says catfishing dating profiles using stolen images from her popular instagram page could be "extremely dangerous" for her business. (Have Your Say Stories)

"One message I received said this catfish was trying to arrange a meeting. That’s when I lost all humour about it."

The fitness coach uncovered 12 different fake profiles set up using images of her on holiday in a bikini and posing with her border terriers, Baxter and Dougal.

The images have been taken from her Instagram page @sarahlouskitchen where she promotes her lifestyle and fitness coaching and nutritious home-cooked recipes.

Sarah, who is in a happy relationship, continued: "I was on Bumble and Hinge as well as Tinder.

"I found it disturbing to realise just how dangerous this could be and that people could be talking to these profiles believing that it was me on the other side of them.

A fitness and lifestyle coach, Sarah Harker, says catfishing dating profiles using stolen images from her popular instagram page could be "extremely dangerous" for her business. (Have Your Say Stories)

"I don't like to think that my face could be used to put someone in a potentially dangerous situation."

But when Sarah contacted all of the dating apps to let them know that she was being impersonated she says she was told by Tinder on their live chat facility that they couldn't do anything unless she was a member and reported it directly.

Sarah said: "I shouldn’t have to be a member to be able to report a profile that was falsely impersonating me.

"I was seriously concerned that these profiles were able to be set up without any form of identification being used."

Sarah did create accounts to report any that she was aware of but worries that more could crop up at any time.

A fitness and lifestyle coach, Sarah Harker, says catfishing dating profiles using stolen images from her popular instagram page could be "extremely dangerous" for her business. (Have Your Say Stories)

She added: "Knowing there are so few protections in place when you are cloned online has left me feeling really strange about the world of social media.

"These platforms should be implementing more stringent checks for security in this day and age to protect everyone involved."

A spokesperson for Tinder said: "Catfishing is a violation of our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use, and members who are discovered catfishing are removed from our platform.

"If someone believes they are being impersonated on Tinder, they should contact our support team with relevant details here. From there, our team will promptly search for and remove any matching profile.

"Additionally, we encourage our members to look for the ‘blue tick’, which indicates that the member’s profile image is genuine and has been verified by Tinder, through our Photo Verification programme.”

For the latest local news in your area direct to your inbox every day, go here to sign up to our free newsletter

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.