I had my identify stolen by a ‘catfish gang’ who used it to scam people out of thousands of pounds – I was shocked when I hunted down the fraudsters

• James Blake, of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, had his identity stolen by fraudsters
• READ MORE: I thought I was dating George Ezra but it was actually a catfish

A man has revealed how his identity was stolen by fraudsters who used it to scam people out of thousands of pounds – ahead of his story being shared in a new documentary.

James Blake, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, joined Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on This Morning to share his shocking experience, which resulted in tonight’s BBC Three programme, Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur revealed that he started getting messages from women accusing him of conning them out of tens of thousands of pounds.

James, who owns a digital marketing agency, decided to try and track down the fraudsters and he discovered that not only are the victims being conned, but the scammers themselves are often victims of trafficking and abuse at the hands of the gangs orchestrating these crimes.

Speaking on the ITV show he said: ‘A couple of profiles popped up and initially I thought this was someone in their bedroom messing about and I didn’t think anything of it.

James Blake, from Lisburn, Northern Ireland , joined Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on This Morning to share his shocking experience, which resulted in tonight’s BBC Three programme, Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang 

‘[The accounts] had all my photographs, photos of my family, my cars, my team at the business and initially I was like this is amusing, quite bizarre but it’s probably a kid messing about.

‘But over time it progressed and got worse, to the point where I was waking up with five to 10 messages daily from people saying I have been chatting to you on dating apps and on social media.

‘Unfortunately, I would also get the odd message where someone would say I have invested money with this person, or I have sent them money and they have lost out.’

James explained it all came to a head when a man left a one-star review on his company’s page saying, ‘don’t use this business, this guy likes to mess around with other people’s wives’.

He said: ‘Obviously I am seeing that going ”what on earth is this” so I messaged him, and we chatted.

‘He had shared screenshots with me, basically his wife had been talking to a fake of me online and decided to divorce him and she sent him an email kicking him out of the house.’

James admitted it was at that moment he knew the situation was serious as people had a lot to lose.

The entrepreneur revealed he reported the fake profiles to Instagram however they didn’t get removed as they ‘didn’t go against community guidelines.’ He also said he spoke to the police who told him there was nothing they could do.

The 30-year-old entrepreneur revealed that he started getting messages from women accusing him of conning them out of tens of thousands of pounds

James, who owns a digital marketing agency, decided to try and track down the fraudsters and he discovered that not only are the victims being conned, but the scammers themselves are often victims of trafficking and abuse at the hands of the gangs orchestrating these crimes

After going to the press as a last resort James said it helped a bit and he decided to make a documentary about his experience. 

He travelled to Thailand for the programme, where he learned about the sophisticated operation behind these scams.

He said: ‘I end up travelling to Southeast Asia and what I uncover is just mind blowing and I think most viewers of the documentary will not expect it to go in this direction.

‘It turns out the people behind these fake profiles are not kids in their bedrooms, in fact, there are people who are in massive office facilities, these offices wouldn’t look out of place in Canary Wharf.

‘This type of fraud is a billion-dollar industry, but the really sad thing is these buildings are filled with thousands of people that are actively scamming people but even sadder than that, they are forced to do it.

The entrepreneur revealed he reported the fake profiles to Instagram however they didn’t get removed as they ‘didn’t go against community guidelines’

He travelled to Thailand, where he learned about the sophisticated operation behind these scams

‘A lot of these people come to these places thinking they are getting legitimate jobs and then they are forced into scamming people, it’s horrendous, they are trafficked through criminal organisations, they are dehumanised, they are beaten and electrocuted.

‘They get set insane sales targets for scamming people and if they don’t meet them, they get abused. It’s horrendous.’

James warned others to protect themselves online by branding their content so scammers can’t use it.

A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland told the Mail Online: ‘Police received a report in September 2021 however no criminal offences were detected. 

‘Information around safeguarding online was provided along with advice regarding reporting fake profiles to the relevant social media companies.’

Anyone who feels they have fallen victim to any kind of scam, whether online or otherwise, please report it to your local police.

Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang will be on BBC Three on Monday 23 October at 9pm.

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