<P> According to a Washington Post article the Rolling Stone University of Virginia rape hoax story may have been an example of catfishing . NBA star Chris Andersen also fell victim to catfishing . </P> <P> Some online users have used catfishing to explore their gender and / or sexual identities . For example, on the MTV show Catfish, based on the documentary, a girl named Sonny connects with a male model named Jamison who is, in reality, Chelsea, a woman using her alternative identity to interact with other women in an online space . In a personal essay for The New York Times' Modern Love column and a subsequent podcast episode narrated by actor Cory Michael Smith, writer Kalle Oskari Mattila recounted how pretending to be a woman online helped him to find himself as a young boy growing up in a strictly gendered society . </P> <P> The motives of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who catfished Manti Te'o, were never explained; some people speculate that Manti was in on the hoax for publicity . </P> <P> Financial gain can be another motive of catfishing . In 2015, three girls created a fake social media profile and managed to steal $3,300 from the terrorist group Islamic State . They had been approached by a recruitment officer & asked for money to go to Syria . After being given the money, they immediately deleted their account and pocketed the cash for their own personal travel . </P>

Where does the term catfish or catfishing come from