"Someone who is a little bit more experienced might say 'something about this doesn't smell right'."
Catfishing, a term coined from the 2010 film "Catfish" documenting a young man's supposed romance with a woman he met through Facebook who in fact did not exist, has come into sharp focus following an embarrassing story involving Manti Te'o, a football star with the University of Notre Dame.
In Te'o's case, the "bait" manifested itself in the form of a woman he met online named Lennay Kekua. He said the girl tragically died of leukemia last year - a gripping human drama that was amplified by numerous US media outlets which themselves fell for the tale without checking facts independently.
Te'o's story of excelling on the football field while trying to cope with the death of his girlfriend captivated the nation.
Until, that is, sport website Deadspin reported that the entire story was an elaborate hoax, forcing Te'o and his school to admit they had been catfished.
"Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia," Notre Dame said in a statement.
