‘This Is Your Sign To Just Be Careful’: Austin Women Get Catfished By ‘Jack.’ Then the Real Jack Steps In

Two Austin-area women are going viral on TikTok after realizing they were both catfished by someone using the same name—Jack.

The situation centers on four people. There’s the real Jack, the person pretending to be him, and two women who unknowingly fell into the same trap. One of them, Danie (@daniebrady), says she matched with “Jack” on Hinge and decided to share her experience as a warning to other women in Austin who might have seen the same profile.

According to Danie, Jack’s profile said he was 27, claimed he went to the University of Alabama, and seemed normal enough at first.

“I got catfished, and so did a handful of other girls in Austin,” she said.

Danie says they matched in the first week of December and quickly moved off the app, texting while he was supposedly on a boys’ trip with friends. But when she tried to vet him, things started to feel off. She says the photos he sent were all screenshots.

“A little bit weird,” Danie noted.

After digging deeper, Danie realized every photo and video he’d texted her already existed on the same man’s Instagram or TikTok. That’s when she reached out to the real Jack to let him know someone was impersonating him in Austin.

“Funny enough, Jack responded and said, ‘You’re not the first person to send me a message like this,’” Danie recalled.

Together, they pieced together that a woman named Anna was allegedly behind the fake account. Danie ended her video with a reminder to stay alert on dating apps.

“This is your sign to just be careful on dating apps [and] look up who you’re talking to,” she said. Her clip has since drawn just under 7,000 views.

Anna’s Story

Another Austin-area woman, Anna (@ak47moneyswag), later shared her own experience—and it lined up almost perfectly.

Anna, who is 23, says she matched with Jack on Hinge in December and initially felt good about it. They shared common ground, including attending the same college, and she found him attractive. They texted for about two weeks, but Jack repeatedly dodged questions about his last name and offered excuses that didn’t quite add up.

They eventually planned a date, but Anna says it never happened. On the day they were supposed to meet, Jack claimed his dad had been in a car accident and that he needed to rush back to New Jersey. Anna says she comforted him and stayed supportive.

Around the same time, her friends found Jack’s Instagram and noticed contradictions. The man Anna was texting insisted he didn’t have Instagram, yet the real Jack’s account was active—and filled with photos Anna recognized.

“At this point, I’m realizing I’ve gotten got. I am getting scammed,” Anna said. “Basically, I’ve been texting a bot.”

After tracing the phone number and connecting more dots, Anna confronted the fake Jack, who promptly cut things off. She later messaged the real Jack, who told her he was aware of the impersonation and was dealing with it.

“Just be safe out there, y’all,” Anna warned. Her video has now racked up more than 477,700 views.

What If I Think I’m Being Catfished?

While both women claim that Jack posted his own story time to TikTok, sharing his experience of having his photos used to catfish others, that video appears to have been taken down.

That said, if you think you’re being catfished, grab screenshots of the profile, stop responding, block the person, and report them through the app. Even if you’re not 100% certain you’re dealing with a catfish, cutting off contact early prevents things from escalating.

If there’s still a sliver of doubt and you want clarity, you can always push for verification. Someone who dodges meeting you via live video call or in person is the quickest tell. And if they’ve already sent photos, it’s worth running them through a reverse image search to see what comes up.

Commenters Share How To Catch A Catfish

Viewers who saw Anna’s video about being duped by a fake Jack largely sympathized, with many chiming in to share the tactics they swear by for spotting a catfish before things go too far.

“I always search people’s #s via Zelle, cash app, or Venmo and usually find their full name, but if that doesn’t work, then fastpeoplesearch or validnumber works too!” one viewer advised.

Another pointed to social media cross-checks as an early litmus test. “People hate on asking for Snapchat, but I always did so I could verify it was really them in the photos,” they noted.

Some said a simple search can do most of the work if you have even a few real details. “If you have their job, school, and name, just type that into Google, and LinkedIn will do the rest,” a commenter explained. “That works with their hometown or other info they put on Hinge.”

Others stressed the need to push for real-time proof right away.

“As soon as I exchange numbers, I ask for a [FaceTime],” one person said.

“I reverse Google search, always,” another echoed.

And several people expressed disbelief that catfishing is still so common.

“No, because why tf does dating in your 20s actually feel like a humiliation ritual lmfao,” one woman joked.

“No, bc a very similar situation happened to me & it’s so humbling,” another admitted.
Patch has contacted both Anna and Danie through direct messages on TikTok.

@ak47moneyswagg