Can you clear up the Manti Te'o catfish scam?

A catfish scam, according to Urban Dictionary, is the creation of a false person and false identity through the use of Facebook and other social media. Essentially she was not real, but a complete back story was created to scam Te’o.

Here are the details from ESPN.

well now I feel I have nothing more to add. In short, his “girlfriend” was someone he never met in person, only through social networking. He forged an emotional relationship and the girl and her friends made him think that she died from leukemia. It was a fake profile and he believed it. He shouldn’t be embarrassed, I just feel bad for the guy. The girl was a bitch to do that to him especially after his grandmother passed, that must’ve been really hard on him

Ok just wanted to clarify it all. Thanks guys. And wow, how horrible was this. He must’ve dedicated so many games to his gf with leukemia. What do you guys think should be the punishment for the scammers?

Wait though, according to this article their relationship began in person and because she was in Palo Alto and he wasn’t, it blossomed online. The article also quotes Te’o’s father as saying that she visited him in Hawaii. It doesn’t sound like an actual catfish situation unless someone just made up the back story to keep him from being embarrassed by being in this type of relationship. This is of course completely possible and even plausible when considering the oddness of this entire situation.

According to CBS Radio this evening, they never actually met. That Notre Dame/Stanford game meeting was not face to face.

It is now clear from the Katie Couric interview that he persisted in lying about it even after the truth was revealed.

And there were far too many clues all along the way that it takes a lot of gullibility to keep on and on. And this guy is in college at Notre Dame?

If I were an employer he wouldn’t be at the top of my list to hire.

Unfortunately he gives fresh new meaning to the expression “dumb jock”.

I do feel a bit sorry for him but only to a point. It would have been simple enough to uncover the truth of her non-existence. And his continuing lies about it don’t endear anyone to him either.

I watched the movie “Catfish” and that guy had the smarts and the balls to uncover the truth when something just didn’t add up.

Manti allowed the manipulation way past the point of credibility and then continued to lie to others when he himself knew the truth.

@Buttonstc Didn’t this go on for 4 years? I can’t imagine being duped that long. I’m kind of embarrassed for him.

I’m not exactly sure of the timeline because he even lied about that.

After a crucial game (I forget exactly which one) he lied to his Father about having met her in person and I think another interviewer picked up the story also.

Did you catch any excerpts of the Couric interview? He just came off as a real first class dimwit, hence the expression “dumb jock” popping into my head.

I don’t normally think in stereotypes like that, but listening to him was just unbearable.

I did catch some of it. I didn’t understand why his sexuality is being questioned though. What about this whole story would suggest he is gay?

Some wise ass reporters were questioning whether he was in on the whole thing from the get go (due to his lies at certain points).

So their logic(?) then was that the imaginary girlfriend was created as a “beard” of sorts so that no one would question his sexuality and just assume he was straight.

So, Katie had to ask the Q since it was in the wind. But she didn’t dwell on it or anything.

I don’t think there’s any validity to that tack at all. Thanks to the tutelage of many of my gay friends, i think i can safely say that I have pretty well developed gaydar (not infallible but pretty damn good) and I don’t get any gay vibe off him whatsoever.

A stupid vibe? yes. A gay vibe? Nah

So now my simple wonderment, was this all sympathy -getting publicity for the Heisman Trophy?