A single mum has recalled the harrowing moment she discovered her identity was being exploited in a shocking catfishing scam – and her nightmare isn’t over.
Australian model Kate Heussler was left feeling shocked and deeply violated after learning images of her that had not been online for years were being used by an unknown catfisher in the U.S.
Much to the Sydney businesswoman’s horror, her five-year-old daughter was also embroiled in the web of lies.
The 2014 Miss Australia has spoken out about the ongoing ordeal in the hope the catfisher will stop exploiting her identity and authorities will take action.
She shares her story that you may see it coming
Ms Heussler hopes sharing her story will serve as a stark warning that no one is immune to online dangers and catfishing can happen to anyone – not just those with a public profile.
‘It all started two weeks ago and it’s just gotten worse from there,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
The saga began last month when an American man named ‘Jeffrey’ emailed Ms Heussler to say he had fallen prey to an ‘obvious scammer’ who was using her photos.
He admitted to sending money to the ‘scammer’ before he suspected he was being conned and alerted Ms Heussler via her business website.
‘Your image may have been compromised,’ said ‘Jeffrey’ in a message seen by Daily Mail Australia.
‘I have [been] corresponding with an obvious scammer who had been sending me photos and inevitably asking for money. This person mentioned your family and when I saw there were pictures of your daughter, I didn’t find it amusing anymore.’
She was first sceptical
Ms Heussler was initially sceptical of ‘Jeffrey’ as she often receives unusual messages online.
‘I get a lot of random queries through my website and I’m a branding expert so I take these matters very seriously,’ she said.
‘I was horrified to learn of how much he knew about me, including my divorce. It made me feel very vulnerable.’
‘I felt that my professional reputation that I spent years building up was at stake and that someone was trying to take that away from me.’
‘Jeffrey’ believed he was in a romantic relationship with Ms Heussler, despite having never met her.
He supplied Ms Heussler with screenshots of desperate messages from the catfisher after he became suspicious, along with voice messages from a woman with a German-sounding accent.
‘Jeff. Are you okay? Where are you? Are you at home?’ reads a series of text messages seen by Daily Mail Australia.
The messages became more frantic the next morning after no response.
‘I’m worried. Why don’t you want to talk to me?’ the catfisher wrote.
She turned on ‘Jeffrey’ when he requested a video selfie.’You doubted me,’ she wrote.
Jeffrey replied: ‘From day one.’
Police couldn’t do anything
He was sent photos of Ms Heussler that weren’t on her social media, including Instagram Stories from 2018 that had been online for just 24 hours.
Alarmingly, the impersonator also had intimate knowledge of Ms Heussler’s family and her divorce.
Ms Heussler suspects the catfisher had been stalking her for years.
That’s when she realised the situation had escalated to a much more severe matter.
‘I reported it to the police, who told me that they couldn’t do anything about it as it happened offshore,’ she said.
‘It made me feel deflated. It appears that imposters and scammers seem to have more rights than victims.’
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To make things worse, she now alleges the man who alerted her to the catfishing activity, ‘Jeffrey’, has has started to harass her online.
She and her staff were forced to block ‘Jeffery’ from contacting them after they received 54 emails from him within a fortnight.
He also allegedly tried to book an online coaching session with her, and left a lewd comment on her Facebook account about ‘single mothers’ using a fake profile.
‘I believed [at first] he was very brave to track me down and come forward. He came across as very caring and concerned,’ she said.
‘We have since had to block him on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.’
