A Co Antrim man's attempts to reclaim his identity after it was stolen by online scammers is the focus of a new BBC documentary.
Lisburn's James Blake is appearing in Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang, which is being screened next week on BBC NI.
The documentary explores how scammers impersonate people using their social media accounts on sites such as Instagram and Facebook, and also delves into the murky world of global organized crime and human trafficking.
The 30-year-old entrepreneur found out his identity had been used to trick people out of money after being contacted by scam victims.
Criminals are believed to have scraped his social media accounts and used the information, including his photos, to lure unsuspecting people in a dating scam commonly known as "catfishing".
“A couple of years ago somebody messaged me to say they had come across a fake account of mine," he said.
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"My first thought was that it was quite amusing, as I didn’t have any understanding of the darker side of it at that point. I reported it and over the next couple of months there were more of them appearing and becoming more sophisticated. All of a sudden, I was looking at profiles that had thousands of followers featuring all of my most up-to-date content.
"They had pictures of my car, my friends, my family, our offices and my team - everything. At that point, I started to worry because it was getting out of control.”
Mr Blake said that he eventually received up to four messages a day from women "who were supposedly dating me", with one claiming to have lost £50,000 as a result of the scam.
He said he believes his image and information was used by online criminals as he makes "lots of content" for social media sites.
"Sometimes my team joke with me and say I'm like a content factory for the scammers," he said.
"Whenever we create something, we know there’s a chance it might be used by the scammers but, equally, we can't just stop - it's a double-edged sword. And because my social media profile shows me living what could be viewed as an aspirational lifestyle, it’s very often this type of person the scammers look to impersonate.”
Mr Blake said he made the documentary with the BBC to "open people's eyes to what's going on", and travelled to Thailand while shooting the film, to track those behind the identity theft.
"I met people who are doing incredible work and fighting constantly for people that are being neglected, trafficked and abused. Meeting those people gave me hope and I left Thailand feeling relieved that there are actually good people out there, genuinely wanting to help. I'm glad that the documentary is shining light on the work they're doing, because it's amazing.”
Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang will be screened on BBC One NI next Tuesday at 10.40pm.
