A California Tarot reader recently took to her TikTok with a story about being catfished online by a woman who pretended to be a man. The video begins with the tarot reader, Mahsa Zaribaf, sharing that when she was around twenty-one, she spent a lot of time on Tumblr. She came across a profile of someone who was going through a hard time, and she wanted to reach out.
The video details how she engaged in various Tumblr activities, often with many “strangers [she] didn’t know.” The California Tarot reader describes everything as “normal” at first when she reaches out to someone struggling. She explains that she sent a message saying, “I’m so sorry you’re hurting so much.”
The profile contained only text posts with various red flags, such as no name or photos. There were no “identifying factors.” She complimented the user and told them that their “words were gorgeous,” which led to an online relationship. The California Tarot reader proceeds to share that she had “no idea who this person was” or even how old. Eventually, she was given a name, Dylan, and even met his friends. The interactions were excessive to the extent that “this person was Dylan more often than they were their true selves.”
The California Tarot Reader Exposes Catfisher
The real person, “R,” pretended to be “Dylan’s” family and friends, to the extent of becoming friends with the California Tarot reader. The girl knew where she was “at any given moment” as she communicated with Mahsa as various people. The California Tarot reader soon learned through a friend about a scandal that occurred at her school, where a girl catfished her best friend, pretending to be a boy named Dylan. Mahsa’s friend assured her that “this was common knowledge,” which led her to confront the catfisher about “explaining herself.”
The story ends with the catfisher asking her to “please [not] tell anyone” and the excuse that she didn’t love the tarot reader, “but Dylan loves [her].” The catfisher used a voice changer and fake texting apps to pretend to be Dylan’s family and friends. The California Tarot reader describes the experience as a “cold, hard ending.” Mahsa calls out how she had “no one to process it with” as the situation was “embarrassing.”
Despite this feeling, many in the comments share their support and similar experiences. One commenter states that, “Unfortunately, this is pretty common.” Another shares that they “heard this exact story from someone else,” highlighting how often catfishing does occur. A third comments that “this happened to [them] too over Covid.” A fourth states that “the problem is the deception and the world we live in.”
