- A catfish known as "White Plastic" said he tricked people into believing he's an influencer.
- His targets then sent him nude photos, which he went on to sell for "hundreds" of dollars.
A self-proclaimed internet catfish said he's made thousands of dollars by pretending to be famous YouTubers in order to trick Instagram creators into sending him naked pictures of themselves.
The man, who was referred to by the name Vincent and "White Plastic," appeared on a September 7 episode of "Dr. Phil," the TV talk show hosted by psychologist Phil McGraw.
He said he would ask the creators he targeted, who were small or emerging influencers, to send him nude pictures of themselves which he then sold to online platforms. He added that while catfishing is a hobby for him, it's also a "multi-thousand dollar business" and said he has people on his payroll who help.
He said he had posed as James Charles and Steve Deleonardis, also known as SteveWillDoIt, from YouTube collective the Nelk Boys, who have 22 million followers and 3.6 million followers respectively.
White Plastic said he made "hundreds and hundreds" from each instance of catfishing — a type of social-media scam where someone impersonates a different identity in order to lure a person into a romantic relationship for financial gain.
White Plastic said he has been catfishing people online for several years, and started by targetting normal people before he realized it was more "thrilling" to target small influencers, concluding, "I'm not murdering people, I'm not doing anything crazy, so I don't think it's wrong in my eyes."
"I never feel bad. If you're dumb enough to send someone nudes online that you have never met before, you deserve to be catfished because you didn't do your homework," he continued.
Three creators appeared on the show saying they had been contacted via text message by White Plastic pretending to be a celebrity.
One, known online as Diamond, who has 47,000 Instagram followers, said she received a message from someone she believed to be Deleonardis. Diamond said she sent "erotic" messages and nude photos to White Plastic, thinking he was the YouTuber, and later found out he had been selling them online.
"One thing led to another. It started getting really freaky and intimate. I thought I was in love," she said.
Another creator, who goes by the username Larz and has 423,000 Instagram followers, said he had applied to work with influencer James Charles by leaving his contact information in the comments section of one of his posts. He said that a few minutes later he received a text from a number he believed belonged to Charles, as he briefly FaceTimed and saw the influencer.
Larz said he shared his address and also sent money to the catfish.
The third creator, known only as William, said White Plastic tricked him by posing as rapper Lil Nas X. While he was initially skeptical, he believed the pair had a mutual friend, and that the singer's brothers followed him on Instagram, which made him believe he really was speaking with him.
William had previously fallen victim to a catfish before and appeared on MTV's "Catfish: The TV Show."
White Plastic and the three influencers confronted each other during the episode, with McGraw accusing White Plastic of committing a felony by selling the influencers' naked images. "Arrest me," White Plastic responded.
The act of impersonating another person online is not itself illegal, but according to legal directory HG.org, catfishing for the purposes of obtaining "something of benefit," such as a nude photo, is considered fraud. Under US law, "fraud in the inducement" is punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or up to five years imprisonment, according to Cornell Law School.
Diamond, White Plastic, Larz, William, and representatives for James Charles and Steve Deleonardis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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