Scammer or not a Scammer on Feabie

The question arose is it illegal to get money out of people on a Site called Feabie or any other site, using a fake profile.  One would think that the answer was obvious but maybe not. Feabie is a weird site anyway but wont go into that ....

Ive done a lot of thinking and a lot of searching. The answer has to be.... whilst creating a fake profile is not illegal, it does break the rules of the site and getting money out of someone whilst perporting to be someone else could lead to being prosecuted for fraud.  Its as simple as that.


Lets look at a point by point summary and all four in this context are illegal.

• Is money laundering illegal ~ YES
• Is scamming people illegal ~ YES
• Is catfishing illegal ~ NO ~ Currently not illegal in the UK but.... If a victim hands over money, the "catfish" could be prosecuted for fraud; so in this case its illegal.
• Is creating a fake profile on Feabie illegal ~ Not illegal but it is against the rules of the site and if used for getting money out of victims then could be prosecuted for fraud. So again as being used for monetary gain its illegal.

So anyone setting up a fake profile on Feabie with fake picture with the aim of getting money out of others would be....

• Breaking the rules of the Feabie site
• Scamming ~ illegal
• Fraudulent ~ illegal
• Deceitful
• Immoral
• Dishonest
• Unscrupulous
• Devious

So i guess it comes down to wether you are a selfish, take what you can get, dont care about others type of person if you do this.  There are plenty of takers around, people that sit on the dole and take handouts that we the taxpayer pays for. Many have good reason many dont and are just that scamming the system. Personally I would question the morality of anyone involved in a scam such as this.

Rules from Feabie

Fake photos: Members are not allowed to post photos of other people (or illustrations drawn by other people) as if they were their own. Full stop.

False identity: This should be obvious, but members are not allowed to assume fake identities, including posting intentionally misleading profile information, engaging in catfishing activities, or misrepresenting their gender identity in order to get additional network features.

Catfishing ~ The practise is deceitful, but it is not illegal – despite victims complaining of mental harm.

Catfishing ~ may not be a criminal act, but it depends on whether the catfish had any intention to cause a (monetary) gain or loss. - If they did, then it is likely that the criminal law could intervene.

If there is any financial gain or loss incurred as a consequence of the false account or profile, an offence may also be committed under the Fraud Act 2006: under section 8 possession or making or supplying 'articles' for use in frauds includes any program or data held in electronic form. For further guidance prosecutors should refer to the legal guidance on the Fraud Act 2006, in particular that relating to ss6-8 of the Act.

“Catfish” Scams ~ A “catfish” is someone who creates a fake social media account in order to pursue an online romance. Sometimes, catfish convince their victims to send money or gifts, or to pay for their travel or other expenses.

What is Confidence fraud ~ These are frauds where the perpetrator wins the confidence of the victim and obtains money or other property by deception. These include advance fee frauds, so called ‘419 scams’, foreign lottery scams and bogus charity scams. In short, they usually include any kind of fraud where someone is conned out of money or other assets. A common factor in many of these frauds is the targeting of vulnerable victims. Also, they will often be multiple frauds, i.e. many victims are deceived in the same way.
These offences are usually charged under the Fraud Act (section 1), where the maximum sentence permitted by law is 10 years imprisonment. For allegations of false accounting under the Theft Act 1968, 7 years is the maximum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monzo_(bank)
https://www.feabie.com/Home/FAQ
http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/consumers/sort-code-checker
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=AC%20Money
https://www.howtochatonline.net/facebook/illegal-to-create-fake-facebook-account-uk/
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/dating-romance
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/the-top-8-frauds-to-watch-out-for-in-2018
https://www.scamnet.wa.gov.au/scamnet/Scam_prevention-Spot_social_media_scams.htm
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/1754916/catfishing-meaning-identity-steal-online-dating
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39078201
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/catfish-catfishing-dating-websites-fake-dating-profiles-sex-online-predators-mtv-legal-illegal-law-a7846011.html
https://www.pnld.co.uk/media/56459/alisdair-gillespie-pnld-2017.pdf
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/social-media-guidelines-prosecuting-cases-involving-communications-sent-social-media
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/scams/reporting-a-scam
https://www.reddit.com/r/Stuffers/comments/46xm7z/fuck_feabie_guys
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/social-media-guidelines-prosecuting-cases-involving-communications-sent-social-media