Philip Becnel’s July 2015 article, “When Your Lover is a Liar,” was ranked one of the “Top 10 Pursuit Magazine Stories of 2015.” According to the magazine, a self-described “online community of professional sleuths,” their stories were ranked by using an algorithm based upon reader participation (e.g., clicks, comments, shares). Philip’s article was based in part on an interview he did with an admitted “catfisher,” someone who uses a fake identity online to lure strangers into some type of interaction, often an online romance. In the article, he wrote that the real lure of cat-fishing is the “reward of romance without risk.”
Private investigators are used to cases that involve dishonesty in relationships. Often these cases start with suspicions caused by little lies, but an investigation then turns up far more insidious lies. For example, one example in Philip’s article involved a domestic case in which a man was not only cheating on his wife but was actually married to and had a child with another woman, essentially splitting his time between the two married households. Another private investigator quoted in the article discussed a case where a husband was shocked to learn that his wife was working as a prostitute.
You can read Philip’s fascinating article here.