Three years ago, TikToker Melissa (@mellissa_69) met a girl through her ex. They became close friends, and she ended up telling Melissa about her brother, Johnny, and how he owned a roofing business.
Melissa got close to Johnny as well. They texted all the time, but never talked on the phone because he was always busy working.
Melissa had to move back to San Antonio for a year and a half. During that time, they texted regularly. She always invited him to parties or other events, but he kept coming up with excuses as to why he couldn’t make it.
Then, she returned to Dallas. She was upset because she wanted to hang out with him, but it never seemed to work out. Her friend told her that Johnny was just shy and swamped at work.
“I would basically cry to her all the time about him because I would feel like this man doesn’t want me,” said Melissa. “But because I was so in love with this man, I felt like he could never do no wrong in my eyes.”
He would send Melissa flowers and had his sister give her money on his behalf. Johnny also told Melissa that he wanted to be with her and have kids with her.
However, she thought it was strange that she never saw him at family gatherings when she went with his sister. It got to the point where she was questioning if Johnny even existed.
Of course, her friend reassured her, saying that she had no reason to lie about having a brother.
One day, Melissa was scrolling through social media when a picture of Johnny with another girl popped up. Melissa was super upset and confronted him about it.
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They had been texting for two years at that point, and she had trusted him enough to send him explicit photos of herself. So, she felt betrayed and cried to her friend about the situation.
Later, Melissa found another picture of him on social media. She clicked on it and saw that he had a totally different name. She called her mother for support. Her mother had thought this man was a fraud all along.
Then, she called her friend multiple times, but she didn’t answer. She reached out to her friend’s partner, who told her that he had never seen Johnny before. Something wasn’t adding up.
When her friend finally answered, Melissa asked for clarification on what was going on. She learned that Johnny was fake and that her friend had been lying about everything.
She did not have brothers named Johnny and Axel or an aunt and a niece. She also only had two kids, not four.
And so, that’s how Melissa was catfished by her so-called friend for two years. She never knew why she did it, but hopes that she will seek help.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
