U.S. adult awareness of catfishing by age 2022

As of January 2022, 47 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 34 years reported to have seen, read or heard a lot about catfishing. Just five percent of respondents in this age group said that they had seen, read and heard nothing at all about the fictional identity scam, in comparison to 35 percent of those ages 65 years and older. Overall, lack of awareness about catfishing increased significantly with age.

Share of adults in the United States on how much they have seen, read or heard about catfishing as of January 2022, by age group

Characteristic	18-34	35-44	45-64	65+
A lot	47%	33%	21%	7%
Some	39%	40%	42%	32%
Not much	9%	12%	19%	26%
Nothing at all	5%	15%	17%	35%

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Release date

January 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

January 14 to 15, 2022

Number of respondents

2,211 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Original question: "How much have you seen, read, or heard about ’catfishing’? Catfishing is when a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim".

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