You can't fish without bait. But in the wake of a high-profile episode involving a college athlete and his fictitious girlfriend, experts warn that "catfishing" - online romance through deception - is a rising internet risk with potentially dangerous consequences.
"People don't realise how much they are playing with fire when they play with a person's emotions," said Pepper Schwartz, sociology professor at the University of Washington and an author and sexologist.
Anyone can be taken in by online catfishing scammers, she said, but people who were "experientially or emotionally naïve" are particularly at risk of being duped by people they meet through the internet but not in person.
"There is a lot of delusionary behaviour and naivety on the part of a person who gets catfished," Schwartz told RIA Novosti.
