Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 7, Episode 40 - Angel & Antonio - full transcript
Laura joins Nev to help Angel find her online love, Antonio, who claims to live in Angel's small town, yet is never able to meet her.
- Angel has been talking
to this guy Antonio.
- Has he ever asked you
for money?
- Yes.
- He has?
- What?
Now it just seems like a scam.
both: Oh!
- His wife's in on it.
I can't believe this guy.
- So he knows we're onto him.
- Oh, my God.
- Just want to know why.
- You ready to do this?
- I'm kind of freaking out.
He's the most manipulative
catfish you've ever had.
- Do you know this person?
[dramatic music]
Hey, guys, Nev here,
and we're back
with a brand new batch
of all new "Catfish" episodes.
Let's do it.
We've been the making
the show for over seven years.
We done over 125 episodes.
- You're a coward, man.
- And what's amazing
is we're still encountering
things we've never seen before.
He was dead for a couple days.
What?
- Everybody in Hawaii
is in on this.
- ♪ Hard to see it's just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
- New ways to fall in love,
We never had
two hopeless hook up.
- [laughs]
- All new deceptions.
- He just lied
about so much [bleep].
- And new what-the-[bleep]
firsts that are gonna
completely flip the script
on what you think
you know about "Catfish."
- He has a twin.
- An identical twin.
So join me and all
our favorite co-hosts--
- Are we gonna get jumped?
- Oh, my God.
- As we dive head-first into
an all new season
of episodes,
each with a unique...
- ♪ Won't they see it's just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
- All right.
- Are we on?
- We're always on.
- Welcome to the last episode
of the season.
- Started with Max.
And then we've had a bunch
of different co-hosts.
You've done a few.
This is your third?
- This will be my third.
Should we...
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Get into it?[laughs]
- Okay.
- All right, here we go.
- Hey, Nev and company,
my name is Angel.
I'm a 23-year-old single mom
from Valdosta, Georgia.
But I've been
in an online relationship
with a 25-year-old guy
named Antonio James,
who also lives in Valdosta.
I actually met Antonio back
in 2018 when he messaged
me on the dating app
PlentyOfFish.
- ♪ You found me lost ♪
♪ Loved me like
a desert rain ♪
- Right of the bat,
things were great,
and actually moved pretty fast
as we started
chatting every day.
- ♪ I feel possessed ♪
♪ I speak but can't express ♪
- Funny enough,
Antonio was also
a single parent
with a four-year-old daughter.
- Hm...
- So we talked a lot
about the good,
the bad, and the ugly
of raising young daughters.
both: L-O-L.
- ♪ I feel like
on the outside ♪
♪ Looking in ♪
- Seems a little--oh, I also
have a four-year-old daughter.
- I just want to be friends.
- I'm already suspicious.
- Antonio is unlike anyone
I've ever met before.
He's sweet, caring,
supportive of my goals
of going back to school,
and he has a lot of ambition.
♪ ♪
He works
at a nightclub as a DJ,
all the while raising
his four-year-old daughter
on his own.
As things grew,
I began pushing more and more
to meet up,
but Antonio always found
it difficult to make it happen.
- ♪ Queriás más ♪
♪ De lo que podría ser ♪
- He travels a lot for work,
which I get and all,
but it feels like
he's been dodging meeting me.
- ♪ All of the signs ♪
♪ Telling me that
I'm not fine ♪
- Valdosta is not
a big town all,
so it's a little hard
for me to see
why we can't just meet up.
I'm so torn.
On one hand,
I love Antonio.
I'm ready to build
a future with him.
But on the other hand,
it's now obvious
he's hiding something.
Can you help me?
- Angel.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- Well, let's give her a call.
- Super weird.
- Angel.
Hey!
- Hi!
- Hi.
- What's up, Angel?
- I'm liking your cookie jar.
Is that a cookie jar?
- All I can look at
is the cookie jar.
So what's up?
What do you do?
- I actually am
a stay-at-home mom,
and I just started
going back to school.
- Oh, cool.
Can you tell us
a little bit about Antonio?
- So you met him
on PlentyOfFish?
- Yeah.
We started talking as friends,
and then eventually,
it was like, okay,
let's give it a shot.
- And how often
do you guys talk?
- Um, we talk every day.
I really love him.
He's really sweet
and understanding,
especially being
a single parent,
and he understands, like,
both of my parents passing
in the past couple years.
- Oh.
- I'm so sorry.
- He's been really a good
emotional support system
when I need anything.
- But I guess the big question
though is,
you've been talking
to this guy for six months,
you both seem to really
like each other,
and you live
in the same small town.
Why haven't you met up?
- I've tried to meet him.
He was like, "I'm gonna
come by your house,"
so I sent him the address,
and I waited, like,
three hours for him,
and never showed up.
- Whoa, okay.
- You gave him your address?
- Yeah, and, like,
I've asked him
for his address.
He's like,
"Oh, I sent it to you."
But I never got it.
I asked him.
I was like,
"Well, can you send it again?"
And he never did.
- "Yeah, yeah.
Let me just
take a shower first."
[imitates buzzer]
- Yeah, I'll do it in a second.
So there's some interesting,
strange communication things
happening with this guy.
- Yeah, every time
I've tried to video chat,
he's always came up
with some kind of excuse.
"Oh, I don't video chat
on this phone.
"I've got a different phone
that I video chat on.
When this phone doesn't work,
I switch over."
- So I wanted
to add him on Facebook
to, like,
be able to video chat,
and I found his profile.
I sent a friend request,
and, like,
I never ended up getting
a friend request back,
or, like, it being accepted.
- And you never
mentioned to Antonio, like,
"Hey, I sent you
a friend request?"
- Yeah, and he was like,
"I never received one."
- Hmm.
- Huh. Okay.
- Does he have
any other social media?
- I can't find it.
- A lot of red flags here.
- This guy sounds kind of shady.
Does he send you photos
via text ever?
- Of his face?
- I've only gotten one picture
actually from his phone.
It was actually of him
laying in the hospital.
- Uh-oh.
- He was having some issues
with depression,
and they were
basically trying
to figure out, like,
what was going on.
- How much of this guy's story
do you think is BS?
Do you know for sure
that he's in Valdosta?
- He's actually sent me
pictures of the nightclub.
- Okay.
- And they weren't from
the Facebook profile
that the nightclub has.
It wasn't, like,
off their page.
- I like it.
Angel's on it.
The fact that you even
looked at that means
that you're not
being naive here.
- Well, okay,
so on one hand,
this guy Antonio
sounds wonderful,
but on the other hand,
something's up,
because what's his deal?
Why is he hard to meet up with?
- Yeah.
- Is he a catch,
or a catch-fish?
- [laughs]
- That's the question.
- I'm hoping that it turns out
in a happy ending.
- I guess we're gonna hop on a
plane and go to "Val-dough-sta."
- "Val-daw-sta."
- "Val-daw-sta."
- Yeah.
- Let's "Val-go-sta."
- Hopefully he doesn't
"Val-ghost-a."
- [laughs]
- All right, thanks, Angel.
- See you soon.
- Bye.
- Bye.
All right.
- Can't--I mean--
- She knows.
- She knows what?
- She knows he's lying.
- That something's happening.
I mean, come on.
She's doing a lot of research.
She's looking
at the page of the club.
And seeing--
making sure the photos
he's sending
aren't from the there.
All right, so,
Georgia, here we come.
- Here we come.
- ♪ Call me sugar,
and I'll give you spice ♪
- All right, Angel.
We're about to get on a plane.
Find out the truth.
- ♪ Maybe then ♪
♪ You'll think twice ♪
- I'm bring my angel
to help me.
We're gonna have two angels
on this case.
- ♪ Call me hot sauce ♪
♪ And I'll give you ice ♪
- Valdosta.
Here we come.
- ♪ I poke you
and I push you down ♪
♪ But I want you in my life ♪
♪ Can you take ♪
♪ Sugar and spice ♪
- Valdosta.
Angel and Antonio.
- I'm very curious
what her deal-breakers are.
- Right.
- If he's not the guy in the
photos, maybe that's fine.
What if he doesn't
have a daughter?
Maybe that's fine.
I mean, maybe anything's fine.
- Wow.
- She just wants
to know the truth.
- [vocalizing]
- Cute little white house.
- Kay.
- All right, ready?
- All right.
- Ready, ready.
- Here we go.
[upbeat music]
- Angel.
- Hi.
Come on in.
- Whoa.
- Here's the cookie jar.
- The cookie jar.
[both cheering]
- All right.
Mmm.
Hm, that's pretty good.
- All right.
- Should we sit?
- All right, so,
you've been talking
to this guy now for six months.
- Mm-hmm.
- You're in a relationship.
He's your boyfriend.
- Yes.
- And how intimate
have you been with each other?
- We said, like,
we love you to each other.
- Okay.
Wow.
We haven't even said that
to each other, yet.
[laughter]
How did you come
to love this guy?
I mean--
- He's actually been there
to talk to me, like,
through a lot of stuff.
Like, if, like,
I'm down, like,
he'll sit there and be like,
"If you need me, I'm here."
- Every day,
you're in communication.
- Every day.
- And you've tried to meet up?
- Yes, and, like,
he said, "Oh, we'll meet up."
Like, I waited,
like, for hours.
And he was like, "I just
don't have the gas to come."
[dramatic musical sting]
- Has he ever asked you
for money?
- Yes.
- He has?
- What?
- Yes.
As he went into the hospital,
I got a message from his phone
saying that it was friend.
- Classic.
- Yeah.
She said, if I loved him
that I would send him money.
- What?
- And what did you do?
- I sent it.
[dramatic musical sting]
- Oh, my God.
And you sent it?
- Yeah.
- How did you send it?
- Cash app.
I sent it to the profile
that he has on there.
That's the first time
I sent money.
I've sent multiple times.
- What?
- I've sent almost, like, $400.
- Now this just seems
like a scam.
- I mean--but he trusts me.
Like, close to the beginning,
he gave me, like, his actual,
like, bank account information
in order to, like, go in Verizon
and pay his phone bill.
- What?
- Why can't he do it?
- I don't know.
- Did you go and pay his bill?
- I went to, like, the little
kiosk machine that they have.
I typed in his phone number,
but there was a different name
that came up on there.
He told me his name
was Antonio James.
both: Right.
- "Mr. Williams" came up.
- What?
- And I asked him,
"Where did Williams come in?"
And he wouldn't respond.
- Who is this guy?
- I mean, like, it frustrates me
because, like, I've, like,
done a lot for him and,
like, got nothing in return.
But then, I just need
somebody to talk to.
- And when I text him,
like, I get that.
- Emotional support.
- Here's there emotionally,
basically, and support-wise.
It really does help.
- All right,
we gotta see this guy.
- Okay, this is the profile
that he has.
- So is that
supposed to be him?
- That guy is super-hot.
- Come on.
You're not talking to this guy.
- It's, like, the perfect,
hot tattooed fake guy
to use on a fake, like...
- [laughs]
- Classic catfish guy.
- Wait--do you think
you're talking to this guy?
- Yeah.
- Angel.
If a guy who says
he lives in your hometown,
who can't meet up with you,
who's asking you for money,
happens to look like this,
you've gotta know
that's bull[bleep].
Can you show us
how you sent him money?
- There's the Cash app.
- Right.
You made 21 payments
and sent $389?
- Wait, who--
both: That's his daughter.
- Yeah, that's his daughter.
- There's one you sent
him in April, said,
"All I literally have.
$10."
- Wow.
Doesn't this guy just
seem like a scam artist?
He goes on PlentyOfFish,
he finds women that
have gone through a tough time.
- Horrible--right, single women.
- He convinces them--I mean...
- But like he said,
he's not with me for money.
Like, that he really loves me.
- There's still, like,
a really big question mark
about why this guy,
who claims to love you,
can't show up.
- Yeah.
- But you still feel love
for this guy.
- Yeah, like, it's--
like, it's there.
- All right, well, look...
we're gonna figure this out.
Email us everything
and let us do some research
and see what we can find.
- Okay.
- I'm ready to bust
the door down.
- I mean, I'm fired up.
All right.
We're gonna take care of this.
We're gonna
get that money back.
- [laughs]
- All right,
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
- Talk to you later.
I feel so bad for this girl.
- Awful.
- I just can't believe
she's buying it.
And he sends her to the store
to pay his bill.
- With his bank account,
which he could've
just done himself.
- Right. Maybe that wasn't
his bank account.
Maybe that was,
like, a stolen account.
- And he didn't want
to get busted.
He went from being
this sweet, nice guy
to being a complete
diabolical scam artist.
[dramatic music sting]
- All right,
investigation day.
- Here we go.
- What are we gonna find?
- I wore
my fighting pony today.
- Gotta catch 'em all.
[upbeat music]
- Here we go.
♪ ♪
Whoa, this is cool.
♪ ♪
- Cool.
All right.
Angel and Antonio.
- Angel's going through a very
difficult time in her life.
She's feeling like
she needs a new friend.
She joins PlentyOfFish,
meets a super-hot guy,
and everything's going great.
- But only a couple weeks in...
- He suddenly starts
asking for money.
And then he says,
go pay my phone bill.
And then she looks and finds out
that that Verizon account--
the last name isn't James,
that it's Williams.
He sounds like
a big scam artist.
- Let's just see if we can
catch this catfish scammer.
So she says, hey, guys,
I can't think you
both enough for your help.
This is what I know about him.
Antonio James.
25 years old.
He has
a four-year-old daughter.
Works at Déjà Vu
night club as a DJ.
Here's his Facebook page.
I also attached
the two pics he sent me
inside Déjà Vu
when he was at work.
And here's the pic of him
at the hospital.
- Oh, I want to see the photos.
- Whoa.
So here he is actually, like,
legit in a hospital bed.
- And that does
look like the guy.
- Yeah.
What else?
Oh, here's Déjà Vu.
It does look like
they haven't opened yet, right?
Like, all the lights are on.
- Can we look up
Déjà Vu night club
to see if those
are even from there?
Yeah, it looks like
the same club.
Same stools.
I think there's
a very real likelihood
that whoever she's talking to
does work at Déjà Vu,
and that's the only
true thing about him.
But why would a catfish
who's lying
about everything else
give out his real
place of work?
- Why would he even live here?
Why would he be
in Valdosta at all?
- Right. It doesn't make any--
I mean, like...
A catfish giving out
their real workplace
would definitely be a first.
- Should we reverse
image search the photos?
- Sure.
Let's run some pictures.
No.
All right.
Here...
No.
Well, we'll just run them all.
No hits.
- All right,
so should we just
start at the Facebook account?
- Antonio James.
All right.
- Hawkeye.
- He's got 57 friends.
So for a hot guy on Facebook,
this is probably
not a real account.
And all the friends are female.
Oh, here was a post from March.
- EazieDaGod.
- Look, EazieDaGod.
There's even a watermark
on his photo.
- So EazieDaGod maybe is
who we need to be looking for.
- Right.
- I'm surprised that she
didn't know that he had a name.
- She knew about this page.
- Let's look up EaziedaGod.
- Oh.
- There he is--whoa,
22,400 followers.
- This is our guy.
- This is the guy.
The only question is
is this the guy
she's been talking to?
- Let's hit him up
on Instagram.
All right, so let's
let Eazie get back to us.
In the meantime,
let's run the phone number.
both: Oh!
- What a second.
- James Williams.
- Whoa. When she went
to pay his bill,
it said Mr. Williams.
- Williams.
Mr. Williams.
- Same last name.
- Antonio James sounds like
he's now James Williams.
- And there is an address.
Valdosta.
- Okay.
- Look, a home phone number.
Interesting.
- Should we just call him?
- I guess you could call
and pretend to be,
like, a solicitor.
[tense music]
[line ringing]
- Hello, I'm calling
for James Williams.
- This is in regard
to his [bleep] bill.
- What are you gonna say?
- I don't know.
[dramatic music]
[keypad beeps]
[laughter]
- Oh, God.
I got scared.
- So, wait, wait, wait.
- Okay, wait, wait, wait.
So James Williams is...
- Well, that James Williams...
- That's his wife.
- Is married.
- And he's hopping
in the shower. [laughs]
- Maybe the reason he can't
meet up is he's married.
I wonder if his wife knows.
- Maybe his wife's in on it.
- She might be.
- I can't believe this guy.
What are we gonna do?
- Let's go to Facebook
and look up James Williams.
Valdosta.
No results.
[phone ringing]
both: Whoa, whoa.
- Getting a phone call.
Hello?
- This is Nev.
Who's this?
- Oh, hi.
- Oh.
We're trying to track
someone down.
- So I guess Eazie
showed you our message.
- Whoa.
you guys know about him?
- So you know about
the Antonio James...
- Whoa.
- What is Eazie's name?
both: Enrique, okay.
- Where does Enrique live?
- He lives in New York.
Okay.
Cheri, thank you so much.
I'll be in touch.
I really appreciate it.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
- All right, so what a second.
- Hold on.
What?
She knows that
this guy's a catfish.
- EazieDaGod's manager--
- Knows that Antonio James...
- For years.
- Has these profiles and
is scamming women.
This guy's a scam artist.
- And the only thing he said
specifically about Valdosta
is that he works at Déjà Vu.
Maybe that's actually true.
We gotta go there.
- Yeah.
- Find out if there's any
guy that works there who, like--
- Any--one of these names.
- Right, right.
And go from there.
- Okay.
- Don't want to be
in front of this train,
'cause it's game over
for this guy.
- Déjà Vu, here we come.
- I think I see it.
- Ooh, is that it?
- Well,
let's just check it out.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- That door looks sort of
like it could be open.
- Whoa.
- Oh, there's somebody here.
- Oh, yeah, somebody's here.
Security.
Hi.
- Hey, what's up, man?
How you doing?
- We were wondering if there's,
like, someone we could talk to.
Maybe, like, a manager...
- Is there someone here
I could just ask a quick--
couple questions?
- Can we come in?
All right, cool.
- Thank you.
- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, there.
- Hi.
- Is this your place?
- Yeah.
- Nice. What's your name?
- Kap.
- Kap?
- Yeah.
- Nev and Laura.
- Laura, hi.
- How you doing?
- Nice to meet you.
- Uh, you familiar
with the show "Catfish?"
- Yeah.
- Okay, cool.
We're making an episode,
helping this girl.
She says she has been
talking to a guy
who says he works here.
- Mm-hmm.
- So we just wanted
to come by to see
if that's true and if you'd
ever heard of this guy.
You pretty much know
everybody who works here?
- Not everybody. Almost.
- Okay.
Well, so wait,
maybe you'll know him.
- We got, like, 30 people.
- Oh, wow, okay.
- All right, so do you know
anyone called Antonio James?
- Mm-mm.
- Antonio.
- Any Antonios that work here,
as far as you know?
- I think we got--
we might got a few Tonys.
- What about James Williams?
- Nah.
I don't think so.
- I can look and...
- Do you have a staff list?
- Yeah.
- Hi, guys.
- Hey.
- Let's ask the ladies.
- All right.
- We're doing an episode,
and the guy who we're looking
for says he works here.
- Antonio James, maybe?
Or just an Antonio.
- Antonio.
- Mm-mm.
- What about anyone with
the last name Williams?
A James Williams?
- I didn't see anybody
by the name Antonio James
and James--
- But he did send her
these photos,
which are clearly
of this club...
- He was here.
- When it's, like, closed.
Yeah.
- Wait, that's you?
- Yeah.
[overlapping chatter, laughter]
- That's me.
[overlapping chatter]
- Wait, so who took this photo?
- Wait, so someone took a photo.
[overlapping chatter]
- So whoever
she's talking to has been
in this club
when you're closed.
- Right.
- He says he's a DJ.
- He say he the DJ?
- Do you have any
resident DJs here
that, like, DJ often?
- EazieDaGod?
- I mean, that could
just be a coincidence.
- A coincidence
his name's Easy,
he's a DJ--what?
Photos he's been stealing
is a DJ EazieDaGod
from Brooklyn.
- Has he worked here
in the last six months?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, okay.
- Okay, we need
DJ Easy's real name.
- Call DJ Tellz.
Tellz, what's going on?
Hey, what's DJ Easy name?
You know his real name?
All right.
They say his name is Eric.
- Eric?
- Yeah.
- Does anyone have any way
of getting in touch
with this DJ Easy?
- I probably could.
- All right, so,
I'll leave you my number,
and then I guess figure out
if we can get
in touch with him,
but I don't want
to tip him off.
- All right.
- All right,
let's go talk to Angel.
See what she thinks
about all this.
Guys, just keep
your eyes peeled.
- Yeah, you know, if you see
anyone snapping pictures...
- You done turned them
into investigators now.
They gonna get
to the bottom of it.
- All right, thanks, guys.
- Let me know
if you hear anything.
- We'll be in touch soon,
I hope.
- Thanks, Kap.
- Bye.
- Wow, all right, so--
- Major, major discoveries,
I think.
- Potentially.
- I think it's this guy.
DJ Easy.
There's just too many
coincidences, right?
[line ringing]
- Hey, Angel,
it's Laura and Nev.
- We're coming by to give you
some information that we found.
Is that cool?
- Okay, great.
We'll be over in, like, five.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[Laura knocking on door]
all: Hey.
- Come on in.
- [sighs] All right.
- Okay.
- We got...
- We've got some...
- Some stuff to talk about.
- Major information.
- I hope it's good.
I'm hoping that
it's actually him.
- As in?
- As in, like, the person
that I'm talking to, like,
the pictures and everything,
like, they're real.
- Um, all right,
some of what we show you
is definitely
gonna be upsetting.
But let's show you
what we found.
- Okay.
- The first thing we did was
we searched the phone number,
and that came up registered
to a James Williams.
- He does live in Valdosta.
- Right.
- And we found another
phone number for this person.
- Right,
so Laura called the number.
- And a woman answered,
and I asked
if James Williams was there,
and she said, yes,
and said that she was his wife.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- So that was obviously
not a great call.
- Kay.
- So the next thing we did,
was we were very curious
about this Facebook page.
- Mm-hmm.
- We reverse-searched some
of his images on his profile.
- Right.
- Mm-hmm.
- And we didn't find anything.
- And nothing came up.
- But--
- So did you notice that
he keeps tagging EazieDaGod?
- No, I didn't.
- So we went and found
that Instagram.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it's somebody.
22,000 followers.
- And that looks just like
a similar picture.
- And that's the guy.
That's him.
And we found that--you know,
he's making music.
- You know, he's a legit guy
that people know.
- Right.
- Okay.
- So we sent him
a direct message,
and we got a phone call back
from his manager.
- Cheri.
- So Cheri told us
that he's a recording artist
in real life with
a real manager.
- His real name is Enrique.
- And for years,
they've known
that there is someone
impersonating him,
using his pictures,
who goes by Antonio,
who's been scamming women.
- ♪ There is no past ♪
- So we know the guy
you're talking to is not
this guy.
- ♪ There is no past ♪
- So basically I have no idea
who I'm talking to.
- ♪ They... ♪
- Or if they care
about you at all.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Like folded grass ♪
- [sniffling]
♪ ♪
- Like,
I've put a lot into this,
and, like,
I've been totally honest.
♪ ♪
I just want to know why.
♪ ♪
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Like, I've sent money
to somebody who...
I thought, you know,
like, really needed it,
not, like, somebody who was,
like, you know,
trying to be somebody else.
- You are a victim of a scammer.
And it's awful.
Because you didn't
do anything wrong.
You met someone
who seemed nice.
You opened yourself up to them.
- Hoping for the best.
- And they took
advantage of you.
I'm sorry.
This isn't the guy.
Now we need to figure out
who you are talking to.
So we went
to the Déjà Vu nightclub.
- No one knew any Antonio.
A name did come up
that rang a bell for us.
- Well, we mentioned
the real guy's name is--
- EazieDaGod.
- Right.
- And they said, what?
There is a DJ Easy...
- Who has DJ'ed at Déjà Vu.
- Okay, well,
what is DJ Easy's real name?
- Right.
- And they said Eric.
- But not James.
- Not James Williams.
- So that's sort of
where we're at.
- The only way for sure
to get in touch with the person
who's been scamming you
is to contact the number
that you've been using
to talk to them.
- I do want to figure out
who is behind this.
Like, I've given you money.
I've given you, like,
my actual address.
Like, you're not even
telling me the truth.
- All right, let's try.
[line ringing]
[tense music]
- Your call
has been forwarded--
- All right, so I guess--
should we send a text?
- Hey, Antonio, I'm here
in Valdosta with Angel,
filming "Catfish"
and would love to meet you.
[phone blips]
Mm-kay.
And we're off.
- Let's see what he says.
- Okay.
- Give him till the end
of the day to get back to us.
- Okay.
- All right?
- We're gonna get this guy.
- Thanks so much.
- Let's go.
- All right.
- Get out of your hair.
- We'll see you tomorrow?
- Okay.
- Bye, Angel.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- [sniffles]
- Wow,
Angel was really distraught.
I feel terrible for her.
- There's no doubt in my mind
that this guy's a scam artist.
- Right.And--
- And I think she also
is coming to terms with that.
- It's heartbreaking to know
that somebody
is actually using me
for just money.
Hopefully Nev and Laura
can help me and
try to figure this out
because I need answers.
♪ ♪
[phone blips]
- Whoa.
All right, is this Kap?
Okay.
"Hey, Nev, I was calling..."
- So let's call him.
What do you got, Kap?
[line ringing]
[tense music]
- Hey, morning.
What's up, Kap?
- What?
- Wait a second.
- His trophies?
- Who is this guy?
How long has he worked for you?
- Well--
- What does this guy look like?
- So he knows we're onto him.
- Oh, my God.
- No.
- No.
- Oh, my God.
- Are you cool with us
coming back
and meeting with this guy
at your club?
- Hang tight.
Don't say anything.
I'll shoot you a text
when we're heading over,
and We'll see you
in a little bit.
- What?
- This is a high-stakes
situation.
- We don't even know
that this is guy,
so I feel like
we should go there...
- True.
- Talk to him, see if it's him,
and if it is,
get his side of the story.
- All right.
Back to Déjà Vu.
This is a [bleep] first
if Antonio really told the
truth about where he works.
We've never nailed
someone like that.
Let's call Angel.
[line ringing]
- Hey, we've got some news.
We think we found our guy,
and we know where he is,
so get yourself ready.
We will pick you up.
- See you soon.
[tense music]
There she is.
Hello.
- Hey.
- So here's what we found out.
We spoke to the owner
over at Déjà Vu this morning
and he said he just found out
the security guard
was bragging about
all these girls
he talks to on the Internet,
and he calls himself Antonio.
- He calls them his trophies.
- Trophies?
- Yeah.
Apparently,
it's the same security guard
that when we went
there yesterday,
- He opened the door for us.
- He was there.
- So he knows we're here.
- I have, like,
a ton of questions.
- Let's just head over there
and stop wondering
and start answering.
We don't even know how many
girls he's been scamming.
- I promise you
I'm nobody's trophy.
I'm not something
you could sit on a shelf.
- That's for sure.
- Here we are.
You ready to do this?
- Yeah.
- Are you nervous?
- Very.
- I'm kind of freaking out.
- There he is.
All right.
- All right.
- Hey, how you doing?
- Hey, Kap, good to see you.
- All right.
Good to see y'all again.
- This is Angel.
- How you doing?
- This is Kap.
- All right.
- So he's in there?
- Yeah, he in there.
I ain't tell him what for.
I just told him
y'all were coming by
to ask him some questions.
- Oh, you told him?
Okay.
- When you asked me about
his name being James,
I didn't know that.
His name--
'cause I call him Jay.
- Jay.
- Yeah, so,
when I had looked in
his application
and seen that his name
was James Williams.
- Whoa.
So that is his name.
- Okay.
- Well, let's head on in.
♪ ♪
That's him over there.
You don't know that guy, do you?
- Mm-mm.
- Here we go.
Hey, man.
How you doing?
- Good.
Nev.
- Nice to meet you.
- Jay.
Or James.
- Jay.
Oh, okay.
- Didn't get a chance
to meet you yesterday,
but you let us in.
- Yeah, I saw you yesterday.
- Did you--did anyone mention
what we were doing around here?
- They said you were
looking for somebody.
- I think there's a chance
you may have been talking
to our friend, Angel.
Do you know who she is?
- Nah.
- You don't know who she is?
- No, I do not.
- She's been talking
to someone in Valdosta.
She's become
very close with him,
and he said he worked here,
and a couple things
sort of pointed us to you.
- But your name
is James Williams, right?
- My legal name?
- Yeah.
- How you guys know
my legal name?
- The number that Angel's
been texting and talking to
is registered
to James Williams,
and Kap confirmed that
that's also your name.
- Yeah.
- So I'm pretty sure it's you
that Angel's been talking to.
♪ ♪
- [laughs softly]
- Okay, yeah.
- Right.
Okay, so that is you?
- Yes.
- So you've been calling
yourself Antonio?
- Yes.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- I need a break.
- All right.
- Yeah.
- [heavy sigh]
[weeping]
- I think you can understand
why she might be upset.
- Yes, I can understand.
- Okay.
- I'm gonna go with Angel, okay?
- Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Okay.
- Obviously you're not
the guy in the photos.
Angel's very invested in this,
both emotionally
and financially.
- And you have not
been honest with her.
- No, I have not.
- She, I think,
deserves to know what's up.
- You okay?
- That's his voice.
- That's him?
- Yes.
- I'm sorry.
For him to, like, pretend
that he didn't even know you
is so stupid.
- Why?
Like, just...
Why?
- I'm so sorry.
- Like, put me through
all this for what?
I sent you money.
Like, I want it back.
I want to sit down
and get answers of why.
- Are you ready to go back in
and talk to him?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [sniffs]
- You're taking money
from Angel.
- That was offered to me.
It was never my intention.
- Well, okay,
but she's offered
because you've suggested
you needed money.
- I was just telling her
what I was going through.
- I know,
but she sent you almost $400.
And when she sent it to you,
you took it.
- Yes.
[tense music]
- We kind of want to sit down
so we can get some answers.
I think Angel's ready.
- Can we just
set some chairs up?
- All right.
- So you're from Valdosta?
- Yeah.
- How old are you?
- I'm 34.
- And are you married?
- I'm not married.
- Why then when we called you
on your house phone,
did your wife answer?
- House phone?
I don't have a house phone.
- You're not married?
Do you live with someone?
- Nobody's living with me,
and I'm not married.
- Okay, well, it could've
been a weird mix-up.
Sometimes these websites
aren't perfect.
- Whose bank account
information did you give me?
- Do you remember sending her
to the Verizon store?
- Yeah, that was
my bank account information.
- But why can't you
just pay your bill?
Honestly.
- Do you even have a daughter?
- Yes, I have a daughter.
I can show you pictures of her.
- How many women
do you think you've catfished?
- That's quite a few.
- More than 10?
- Yes.
- More than 40?
- Yes.
- Mo--100?
- More than that.
- More than 100?
- Yes.
- Over how many years?
- Since I was, like, 19.
- That's 15 years.
- Yes.
- Wow.
- Why did you tell me
that you love me?
Like, are your feelings
even real,
or were you just saying that?
- I honestly love you
as a person,
honestly, but not romantically.
- Why say it to me?
You really led me on to believe
like you were somebody,
like, that I could
make a future with.
It was just basically a game.
- That was not a game for me.
- Do you feel bad?
- Yes, I do feel bad.
- 'Cause that's hard to believe
when you admit that you've
been doing this for 15 years
to hundreds of women, like...
- Yeah.
- It just sounds like
you're a con artist.
- It's never about
the money for me.
- If it's not about the money,
then why send a picture
of "Antonio"
in the hospital and say,
"If I don't--if he doesn't
get money, he's gonna..."
- "If you love me,
you would send the money.
If you love my friend,
you would send the money."
- Those messages
I don't remember, honestly.
I don't.
- She remembers.
- Every story that I told you,
I was just telling you what
I was going through
at that time.
You offered.
- You gave her
your Cash app information.
So you are asking for money
if you're--
- She asked for it.
- No, like, I said
I would have to see because
I was going through things
that I had to pay for,
and you got upset
if I couldn't help.
I'm a single mother.
You know, like,
I barely have money.
I've literally sent you
my last $10,
and I went without.
- I honestly don't recall
that message
that you're talking about.
I honestly don't.
- But that's not true.
Because you've talked
to hundreds of people.
Are you ready to, like,
be real about it?
- I'm honestly not pretending.
I hid behind this picture.
I was bullied in school
'cause I was always bigger.
That was a coping mechanism.
- I was bullied,
but I'm not gonna hide
behind a picture
and treat people the way
that I got treated.
That's not right.
- I want to believe that
you're using this
as a coping mechanism,
but, like, do you know
how we know who you are?
It's because you were
bragging to someone
that worked at the club,
and saying, like,
"I got all these girls,
and they're my trophies."
That doesn't sound like someone
that's going through
a hard time.
That sounds like you are
taking people as trophies.
- They're not trophies.
- Did you say that?
- I've never expressed them
as trophies.
But I can admit that
I have a problem.
I honestly want to stop.
If you will allow me
to be your friend as me,
I would love to.
- I don't think
that's possible.
You've lost
my trust completely.
- I'm truly sorry,
like, honestly,
for all of this.
- Maybe you can start regaining
her trust by repaying her.
That's, like,
a very specific, clear way
that you could repay your debt.
- Yeah.
- And I want to believe you,
that you're ready to,
like, finally stop,
but you gotta be ready
now to prove it.
- Is there anything else
that you want to say,
or are we...
- I don't think so.
- All right.
- [exhales]
- Thank you for talking
and admitting
and coming clean
and explaining all this.
All right, man.
See you around.
- Thank you, guys.
- No more catfishing.
- Yeah.
- Thank you, Kap.
- Thanks for helping us
clear that up.
- Hey, no problem.
- Thank you so much.
- I'm gonna give you
a hug, child.
- ♪ Bleeding home ♪
- How do you feel
about all that?
- How is that a coping method?
- I would believe him
if he weren't
making out financially.
He's the most manipulative
catfish you've ever had.
- ♪ I can't stand the wait ♪
- What's next for Angel?
- Working on me, my daughter,
and just going to school.
- No new friends?
- No.
- Is that where
we're at right now?
- Yeah, no new friends.
- ♪ Falling away ♪
[line ringing]
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up, Angel?
Have you spoken to James?
- He texts me,
like, ever so often.
- Huh.
- But I have no feelings.
- So has James offered
to pay you back at all?
- He said that
he was going to,
but it's become
a thing over time, so...
- Yeah, I'm not gonna hold
my breath for that one.
- Are you "talking"
to anyone now?
- I have a friend
that I've been talking to.
He's really nice.
- Wait a second.
Is this an Internet
relationship?
- We've got to video chat.
We've got to everything,
so I know he's real.
- All right, good.
- Check, check, check.
- All right, Angel.
Hang in there, okay?
- All right, I will.
- Bye.
both: Bye.
[line ringing]
- Hello.
- Whoa, James.
Hey, man.
What's been going on
since we all last met up?
- I've retired.
- You're "retired?"
So Antonio is gone, or what?
- Yes.
He's gone.
It's a struggle sometimes,
but it's a relief.
- Yeah, I think that's probably
best just for everybody.
- Yes.
- And what about Angel?
There was some money involved.
Have you ever tried
and pay her back some of that?
- Yes, I'm working towards it.
- It doesn't have to be
all at once.
- Pay her back.
- I'm working on it.
- No more fake profiles.
No more romance scamming.
- You really have to stop
asking people for money.
- Yeah.
- Take it easy, man.
- You, too.
both: Bye.
1104
00:41:16.
to this guy Antonio.
- Has he ever asked you
for money?
- Yes.
- He has?
- What?
Now it just seems like a scam.
both: Oh!
- His wife's in on it.
I can't believe this guy.
- So he knows we're onto him.
- Oh, my God.
- Just want to know why.
- You ready to do this?
- I'm kind of freaking out.
He's the most manipulative
catfish you've ever had.
- Do you know this person?
[dramatic music]
Hey, guys, Nev here,
and we're back
with a brand new batch
of all new "Catfish" episodes.
Let's do it.
We've been the making
the show for over seven years.
We done over 125 episodes.
- You're a coward, man.
- And what's amazing
is we're still encountering
things we've never seen before.
He was dead for a couple days.
What?
- Everybody in Hawaii
is in on this.
- ♪ Hard to see it's just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
- New ways to fall in love,
We never had
two hopeless hook up.
- [laughs]
- All new deceptions.
- He just lied
about so much [bleep].
- And new what-the-[bleep]
firsts that are gonna
completely flip the script
on what you think
you know about "Catfish."
- He has a twin.
- An identical twin.
So join me and all
our favorite co-hosts--
- Are we gonna get jumped?
- Oh, my God.
- As we dive head-first into
an all new season
of episodes,
each with a unique...
- ♪ Won't they see it's just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
- All right.
- Are we on?
- We're always on.
- Welcome to the last episode
of the season.
- Started with Max.
And then we've had a bunch
of different co-hosts.
You've done a few.
This is your third?
- This will be my third.
Should we...
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Get into it?[laughs]
- Okay.
- All right, here we go.
- Hey, Nev and company,
my name is Angel.
I'm a 23-year-old single mom
from Valdosta, Georgia.
But I've been
in an online relationship
with a 25-year-old guy
named Antonio James,
who also lives in Valdosta.
I actually met Antonio back
in 2018 when he messaged
me on the dating app
PlentyOfFish.
- ♪ You found me lost ♪
♪ Loved me like
a desert rain ♪
- Right of the bat,
things were great,
and actually moved pretty fast
as we started
chatting every day.
- ♪ I feel possessed ♪
♪ I speak but can't express ♪
- Funny enough,
Antonio was also
a single parent
with a four-year-old daughter.
- Hm...
- So we talked a lot
about the good,
the bad, and the ugly
of raising young daughters.
both: L-O-L.
- ♪ I feel like
on the outside ♪
♪ Looking in ♪
- Seems a little--oh, I also
have a four-year-old daughter.
- I just want to be friends.
- I'm already suspicious.
- Antonio is unlike anyone
I've ever met before.
He's sweet, caring,
supportive of my goals
of going back to school,
and he has a lot of ambition.
♪ ♪
He works
at a nightclub as a DJ,
all the while raising
his four-year-old daughter
on his own.
As things grew,
I began pushing more and more
to meet up,
but Antonio always found
it difficult to make it happen.
- ♪ Queriás más ♪
♪ De lo que podría ser ♪
- He travels a lot for work,
which I get and all,
but it feels like
he's been dodging meeting me.
- ♪ All of the signs ♪
♪ Telling me that
I'm not fine ♪
- Valdosta is not
a big town all,
so it's a little hard
for me to see
why we can't just meet up.
I'm so torn.
On one hand,
I love Antonio.
I'm ready to build
a future with him.
But on the other hand,
it's now obvious
he's hiding something.
Can you help me?
- Angel.
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- Well, let's give her a call.
- Super weird.
- Angel.
Hey!
- Hi!
- Hi.
- What's up, Angel?
- I'm liking your cookie jar.
Is that a cookie jar?
- All I can look at
is the cookie jar.
So what's up?
What do you do?
- I actually am
a stay-at-home mom,
and I just started
going back to school.
- Oh, cool.
Can you tell us
a little bit about Antonio?
- So you met him
on PlentyOfFish?
- Yeah.
We started talking as friends,
and then eventually,
it was like, okay,
let's give it a shot.
- And how often
do you guys talk?
- Um, we talk every day.
I really love him.
He's really sweet
and understanding,
especially being
a single parent,
and he understands, like,
both of my parents passing
in the past couple years.
- Oh.
- I'm so sorry.
- He's been really a good
emotional support system
when I need anything.
- But I guess the big question
though is,
you've been talking
to this guy for six months,
you both seem to really
like each other,
and you live
in the same small town.
Why haven't you met up?
- I've tried to meet him.
He was like, "I'm gonna
come by your house,"
so I sent him the address,
and I waited, like,
three hours for him,
and never showed up.
- Whoa, okay.
- You gave him your address?
- Yeah, and, like,
I've asked him
for his address.
He's like,
"Oh, I sent it to you."
But I never got it.
I asked him.
I was like,
"Well, can you send it again?"
And he never did.
- "Yeah, yeah.
Let me just
take a shower first."
[imitates buzzer]
- Yeah, I'll do it in a second.
So there's some interesting,
strange communication things
happening with this guy.
- Yeah, every time
I've tried to video chat,
he's always came up
with some kind of excuse.
"Oh, I don't video chat
on this phone.
"I've got a different phone
that I video chat on.
When this phone doesn't work,
I switch over."
- So I wanted
to add him on Facebook
to, like,
be able to video chat,
and I found his profile.
I sent a friend request,
and, like,
I never ended up getting
a friend request back,
or, like, it being accepted.
- And you never
mentioned to Antonio, like,
"Hey, I sent you
a friend request?"
- Yeah, and he was like,
"I never received one."
- Hmm.
- Huh. Okay.
- Does he have
any other social media?
- I can't find it.
- A lot of red flags here.
- This guy sounds kind of shady.
Does he send you photos
via text ever?
- Of his face?
- I've only gotten one picture
actually from his phone.
It was actually of him
laying in the hospital.
- Uh-oh.
- He was having some issues
with depression,
and they were
basically trying
to figure out, like,
what was going on.
- How much of this guy's story
do you think is BS?
Do you know for sure
that he's in Valdosta?
- He's actually sent me
pictures of the nightclub.
- Okay.
- And they weren't from
the Facebook profile
that the nightclub has.
It wasn't, like,
off their page.
- I like it.
Angel's on it.
The fact that you even
looked at that means
that you're not
being naive here.
- Well, okay,
so on one hand,
this guy Antonio
sounds wonderful,
but on the other hand,
something's up,
because what's his deal?
Why is he hard to meet up with?
- Yeah.
- Is he a catch,
or a catch-fish?
- [laughs]
- That's the question.
- I'm hoping that it turns out
in a happy ending.
- I guess we're gonna hop on a
plane and go to "Val-dough-sta."
- "Val-daw-sta."
- "Val-daw-sta."
- Yeah.
- Let's "Val-go-sta."
- Hopefully he doesn't
"Val-ghost-a."
- [laughs]
- All right, thanks, Angel.
- See you soon.
- Bye.
- Bye.
All right.
- Can't--I mean--
- She knows.
- She knows what?
- She knows he's lying.
- That something's happening.
I mean, come on.
She's doing a lot of research.
She's looking
at the page of the club.
And seeing--
making sure the photos
he's sending
aren't from the there.
All right, so,
Georgia, here we come.
- Here we come.
- ♪ Call me sugar,
and I'll give you spice ♪
- All right, Angel.
We're about to get on a plane.
Find out the truth.
- ♪ Maybe then ♪
♪ You'll think twice ♪
- I'm bring my angel
to help me.
We're gonna have two angels
on this case.
- ♪ Call me hot sauce ♪
♪ And I'll give you ice ♪
- Valdosta.
Here we come.
- ♪ I poke you
and I push you down ♪
♪ But I want you in my life ♪
♪ Can you take ♪
♪ Sugar and spice ♪
- Valdosta.
Angel and Antonio.
- I'm very curious
what her deal-breakers are.
- Right.
- If he's not the guy in the
photos, maybe that's fine.
What if he doesn't
have a daughter?
Maybe that's fine.
I mean, maybe anything's fine.
- Wow.
- She just wants
to know the truth.
- [vocalizing]
- Cute little white house.
- Kay.
- All right, ready?
- All right.
- Ready, ready.
- Here we go.
[upbeat music]
- Angel.
- Hi.
Come on in.
- Whoa.
- Here's the cookie jar.
- The cookie jar.
[both cheering]
- All right.
Mmm.
Hm, that's pretty good.
- All right.
- Should we sit?
- All right, so,
you've been talking
to this guy now for six months.
- Mm-hmm.
- You're in a relationship.
He's your boyfriend.
- Yes.
- And how intimate
have you been with each other?
- We said, like,
we love you to each other.
- Okay.
Wow.
We haven't even said that
to each other, yet.
[laughter]
How did you come
to love this guy?
I mean--
- He's actually been there
to talk to me, like,
through a lot of stuff.
Like, if, like,
I'm down, like,
he'll sit there and be like,
"If you need me, I'm here."
- Every day,
you're in communication.
- Every day.
- And you've tried to meet up?
- Yes, and, like,
he said, "Oh, we'll meet up."
Like, I waited,
like, for hours.
And he was like, "I just
don't have the gas to come."
[dramatic musical sting]
- Has he ever asked you
for money?
- Yes.
- He has?
- What?
- Yes.
As he went into the hospital,
I got a message from his phone
saying that it was friend.
- Classic.
- Yeah.
She said, if I loved him
that I would send him money.
- What?
- And what did you do?
- I sent it.
[dramatic musical sting]
- Oh, my God.
And you sent it?
- Yeah.
- How did you send it?
- Cash app.
I sent it to the profile
that he has on there.
That's the first time
I sent money.
I've sent multiple times.
- What?
- I've sent almost, like, $400.
- Now this just seems
like a scam.
- I mean--but he trusts me.
Like, close to the beginning,
he gave me, like, his actual,
like, bank account information
in order to, like, go in Verizon
and pay his phone bill.
- What?
- Why can't he do it?
- I don't know.
- Did you go and pay his bill?
- I went to, like, the little
kiosk machine that they have.
I typed in his phone number,
but there was a different name
that came up on there.
He told me his name
was Antonio James.
both: Right.
- "Mr. Williams" came up.
- What?
- And I asked him,
"Where did Williams come in?"
And he wouldn't respond.
- Who is this guy?
- I mean, like, it frustrates me
because, like, I've, like,
done a lot for him and,
like, got nothing in return.
But then, I just need
somebody to talk to.
- And when I text him,
like, I get that.
- Emotional support.
- Here's there emotionally,
basically, and support-wise.
It really does help.
- All right,
we gotta see this guy.
- Okay, this is the profile
that he has.
- So is that
supposed to be him?
- That guy is super-hot.
- Come on.
You're not talking to this guy.
- It's, like, the perfect,
hot tattooed fake guy
to use on a fake, like...
- [laughs]
- Classic catfish guy.
- Wait--do you think
you're talking to this guy?
- Yeah.
- Angel.
If a guy who says
he lives in your hometown,
who can't meet up with you,
who's asking you for money,
happens to look like this,
you've gotta know
that's bull[bleep].
Can you show us
how you sent him money?
- There's the Cash app.
- Right.
You made 21 payments
and sent $389?
- Wait, who--
both: That's his daughter.
- Yeah, that's his daughter.
- There's one you sent
him in April, said,
"All I literally have.
$10."
- Wow.
Doesn't this guy just
seem like a scam artist?
He goes on PlentyOfFish,
he finds women that
have gone through a tough time.
- Horrible--right, single women.
- He convinces them--I mean...
- But like he said,
he's not with me for money.
Like, that he really loves me.
- There's still, like,
a really big question mark
about why this guy,
who claims to love you,
can't show up.
- Yeah.
- But you still feel love
for this guy.
- Yeah, like, it's--
like, it's there.
- All right, well, look...
we're gonna figure this out.
Email us everything
and let us do some research
and see what we can find.
- Okay.
- I'm ready to bust
the door down.
- I mean, I'm fired up.
All right.
We're gonna take care of this.
We're gonna
get that money back.
- [laughs]
- All right,
I'll see you guys tomorrow.
- Talk to you later.
I feel so bad for this girl.
- Awful.
- I just can't believe
she's buying it.
And he sends her to the store
to pay his bill.
- With his bank account,
which he could've
just done himself.
- Right. Maybe that wasn't
his bank account.
Maybe that was,
like, a stolen account.
- And he didn't want
to get busted.
He went from being
this sweet, nice guy
to being a complete
diabolical scam artist.
[dramatic music sting]
- All right,
investigation day.
- Here we go.
- What are we gonna find?
- I wore
my fighting pony today.
- Gotta catch 'em all.
[upbeat music]
- Here we go.
♪ ♪
Whoa, this is cool.
♪ ♪
- Cool.
All right.
Angel and Antonio.
- Angel's going through a very
difficult time in her life.
She's feeling like
she needs a new friend.
She joins PlentyOfFish,
meets a super-hot guy,
and everything's going great.
- But only a couple weeks in...
- He suddenly starts
asking for money.
And then he says,
go pay my phone bill.
And then she looks and finds out
that that Verizon account--
the last name isn't James,
that it's Williams.
He sounds like
a big scam artist.
- Let's just see if we can
catch this catfish scammer.
So she says, hey, guys,
I can't think you
both enough for your help.
This is what I know about him.
Antonio James.
25 years old.
He has
a four-year-old daughter.
Works at Déjà Vu
night club as a DJ.
Here's his Facebook page.
I also attached
the two pics he sent me
inside Déjà Vu
when he was at work.
And here's the pic of him
at the hospital.
- Oh, I want to see the photos.
- Whoa.
So here he is actually, like,
legit in a hospital bed.
- And that does
look like the guy.
- Yeah.
What else?
Oh, here's Déjà Vu.
It does look like
they haven't opened yet, right?
Like, all the lights are on.
- Can we look up
Déjà Vu night club
to see if those
are even from there?
Yeah, it looks like
the same club.
Same stools.
I think there's
a very real likelihood
that whoever she's talking to
does work at Déjà Vu,
and that's the only
true thing about him.
But why would a catfish
who's lying
about everything else
give out his real
place of work?
- Why would he even live here?
Why would he be
in Valdosta at all?
- Right. It doesn't make any--
I mean, like...
A catfish giving out
their real workplace
would definitely be a first.
- Should we reverse
image search the photos?
- Sure.
Let's run some pictures.
No.
All right.
Here...
No.
Well, we'll just run them all.
No hits.
- All right,
so should we just
start at the Facebook account?
- Antonio James.
All right.
- Hawkeye.
- He's got 57 friends.
So for a hot guy on Facebook,
this is probably
not a real account.
And all the friends are female.
Oh, here was a post from March.
- EazieDaGod.
- Look, EazieDaGod.
There's even a watermark
on his photo.
- So EazieDaGod maybe is
who we need to be looking for.
- Right.
- I'm surprised that she
didn't know that he had a name.
- She knew about this page.
- Let's look up EaziedaGod.
- Oh.
- There he is--whoa,
22,400 followers.
- This is our guy.
- This is the guy.
The only question is
is this the guy
she's been talking to?
- Let's hit him up
on Instagram.
All right, so let's
let Eazie get back to us.
In the meantime,
let's run the phone number.
both: Oh!
- What a second.
- James Williams.
- Whoa. When she went
to pay his bill,
it said Mr. Williams.
- Williams.
Mr. Williams.
- Same last name.
- Antonio James sounds like
he's now James Williams.
- And there is an address.
Valdosta.
- Okay.
- Look, a home phone number.
Interesting.
- Should we just call him?
- I guess you could call
and pretend to be,
like, a solicitor.
[tense music]
[line ringing]
- Hello, I'm calling
for James Williams.
- This is in regard
to his [bleep] bill.
- What are you gonna say?
- I don't know.
[dramatic music]
[keypad beeps]
[laughter]
- Oh, God.
I got scared.
- So, wait, wait, wait.
- Okay, wait, wait, wait.
So James Williams is...
- Well, that James Williams...
- That's his wife.
- Is married.
- And he's hopping
in the shower. [laughs]
- Maybe the reason he can't
meet up is he's married.
I wonder if his wife knows.
- Maybe his wife's in on it.
- She might be.
- I can't believe this guy.
What are we gonna do?
- Let's go to Facebook
and look up James Williams.
Valdosta.
No results.
[phone ringing]
both: Whoa, whoa.
- Getting a phone call.
Hello?
- This is Nev.
Who's this?
- Oh, hi.
- Oh.
We're trying to track
someone down.
- So I guess Eazie
showed you our message.
- Whoa.
you guys know about him?
- So you know about
the Antonio James...
- Whoa.
- What is Eazie's name?
both: Enrique, okay.
- Where does Enrique live?
- He lives in New York.
Okay.
Cheri, thank you so much.
I'll be in touch.
I really appreciate it.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
- All right, so what a second.
- Hold on.
What?
She knows that
this guy's a catfish.
- EazieDaGod's manager--
- Knows that Antonio James...
- For years.
- Has these profiles and
is scamming women.
This guy's a scam artist.
- And the only thing he said
specifically about Valdosta
is that he works at Déjà Vu.
Maybe that's actually true.
We gotta go there.
- Yeah.
- Find out if there's any
guy that works there who, like--
- Any--one of these names.
- Right, right.
And go from there.
- Okay.
- Don't want to be
in front of this train,
'cause it's game over
for this guy.
- Déjà Vu, here we come.
- I think I see it.
- Ooh, is that it?
- Well,
let's just check it out.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- That door looks sort of
like it could be open.
- Whoa.
- Oh, there's somebody here.
- Oh, yeah, somebody's here.
Security.
Hi.
- Hey, what's up, man?
How you doing?
- We were wondering if there's,
like, someone we could talk to.
Maybe, like, a manager...
- Is there someone here
I could just ask a quick--
couple questions?
- Can we come in?
All right, cool.
- Thank you.
- Hey, what's up?
- Hey, there.
- Hi.
- Is this your place?
- Yeah.
- Nice. What's your name?
- Kap.
- Kap?
- Yeah.
- Nev and Laura.
- Laura, hi.
- How you doing?
- Nice to meet you.
- Uh, you familiar
with the show "Catfish?"
- Yeah.
- Okay, cool.
We're making an episode,
helping this girl.
She says she has been
talking to a guy
who says he works here.
- Mm-hmm.
- So we just wanted
to come by to see
if that's true and if you'd
ever heard of this guy.
You pretty much know
everybody who works here?
- Not everybody. Almost.
- Okay.
Well, so wait,
maybe you'll know him.
- We got, like, 30 people.
- Oh, wow, okay.
- All right, so do you know
anyone called Antonio James?
- Mm-mm.
- Antonio.
- Any Antonios that work here,
as far as you know?
- I think we got--
we might got a few Tonys.
- What about James Williams?
- Nah.
I don't think so.
- I can look and...
- Do you have a staff list?
- Yeah.
- Hi, guys.
- Hey.
- Let's ask the ladies.
- All right.
- We're doing an episode,
and the guy who we're looking
for says he works here.
- Antonio James, maybe?
Or just an Antonio.
- Antonio.
- Mm-mm.
- What about anyone with
the last name Williams?
A James Williams?
- I didn't see anybody
by the name Antonio James
and James--
- But he did send her
these photos,
which are clearly
of this club...
- He was here.
- When it's, like, closed.
Yeah.
- Wait, that's you?
- Yeah.
[overlapping chatter, laughter]
- That's me.
[overlapping chatter]
- Wait, so who took this photo?
- Wait, so someone took a photo.
[overlapping chatter]
- So whoever
she's talking to has been
in this club
when you're closed.
- Right.
- He says he's a DJ.
- He say he the DJ?
- Do you have any
resident DJs here
that, like, DJ often?
- EazieDaGod?
- I mean, that could
just be a coincidence.
- A coincidence
his name's Easy,
he's a DJ--what?
Photos he's been stealing
is a DJ EazieDaGod
from Brooklyn.
- Has he worked here
in the last six months?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, okay.
- Okay, we need
DJ Easy's real name.
- Call DJ Tellz.
Tellz, what's going on?
Hey, what's DJ Easy name?
You know his real name?
All right.
They say his name is Eric.
- Eric?
- Yeah.
- Does anyone have any way
of getting in touch
with this DJ Easy?
- I probably could.
- All right, so,
I'll leave you my number,
and then I guess figure out
if we can get
in touch with him,
but I don't want
to tip him off.
- All right.
- All right,
let's go talk to Angel.
See what she thinks
about all this.
Guys, just keep
your eyes peeled.
- Yeah, you know, if you see
anyone snapping pictures...
- You done turned them
into investigators now.
They gonna get
to the bottom of it.
- All right, thanks, guys.
- Let me know
if you hear anything.
- We'll be in touch soon,
I hope.
- Thanks, Kap.
- Bye.
- Wow, all right, so--
- Major, major discoveries,
I think.
- Potentially.
- I think it's this guy.
DJ Easy.
There's just too many
coincidences, right?
[line ringing]
- Hey, Angel,
it's Laura and Nev.
- We're coming by to give you
some information that we found.
Is that cool?
- Okay, great.
We'll be over in, like, five.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[Laura knocking on door]
all: Hey.
- Come on in.
- [sighs] All right.
- Okay.
- We got...
- We've got some...
- Some stuff to talk about.
- Major information.
- I hope it's good.
I'm hoping that
it's actually him.
- As in?
- As in, like, the person
that I'm talking to, like,
the pictures and everything,
like, they're real.
- Um, all right,
some of what we show you
is definitely
gonna be upsetting.
But let's show you
what we found.
- Okay.
- The first thing we did was
we searched the phone number,
and that came up registered
to a James Williams.
- He does live in Valdosta.
- Right.
- And we found another
phone number for this person.
- Right,
so Laura called the number.
- And a woman answered,
and I asked
if James Williams was there,
and she said, yes,
and said that she was his wife.
[soft dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- So that was obviously
not a great call.
- Kay.
- So the next thing we did,
was we were very curious
about this Facebook page.
- Mm-hmm.
- We reverse-searched some
of his images on his profile.
- Right.
- Mm-hmm.
- And we didn't find anything.
- And nothing came up.
- But--
- So did you notice that
he keeps tagging EazieDaGod?
- No, I didn't.
- So we went and found
that Instagram.
- Mm-hmm.
- And it's somebody.
22,000 followers.
- And that looks just like
a similar picture.
- And that's the guy.
That's him.
And we found that--you know,
he's making music.
- You know, he's a legit guy
that people know.
- Right.
- Okay.
- So we sent him
a direct message,
and we got a phone call back
from his manager.
- Cheri.
- So Cheri told us
that he's a recording artist
in real life with
a real manager.
- His real name is Enrique.
- And for years,
they've known
that there is someone
impersonating him,
using his pictures,
who goes by Antonio,
who's been scamming women.
- ♪ There is no past ♪
- So we know the guy
you're talking to is not
this guy.
- ♪ There is no past ♪
- So basically I have no idea
who I'm talking to.
- ♪ They... ♪
- Or if they care
about you at all.
♪ ♪
- ♪ Like folded grass ♪
- [sniffling]
♪ ♪
- Like,
I've put a lot into this,
and, like,
I've been totally honest.
♪ ♪
I just want to know why.
♪ ♪
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- Like, I've sent money
to somebody who...
I thought, you know,
like, really needed it,
not, like, somebody who was,
like, you know,
trying to be somebody else.
- You are a victim of a scammer.
And it's awful.
Because you didn't
do anything wrong.
You met someone
who seemed nice.
You opened yourself up to them.
- Hoping for the best.
- And they took
advantage of you.
I'm sorry.
This isn't the guy.
Now we need to figure out
who you are talking to.
So we went
to the Déjà Vu nightclub.
- No one knew any Antonio.
A name did come up
that rang a bell for us.
- Well, we mentioned
the real guy's name is--
- EazieDaGod.
- Right.
- And they said, what?
There is a DJ Easy...
- Who has DJ'ed at Déjà Vu.
- Okay, well,
what is DJ Easy's real name?
- Right.
- And they said Eric.
- But not James.
- Not James Williams.
- So that's sort of
where we're at.
- The only way for sure
to get in touch with the person
who's been scamming you
is to contact the number
that you've been using
to talk to them.
- I do want to figure out
who is behind this.
Like, I've given you money.
I've given you, like,
my actual address.
Like, you're not even
telling me the truth.
- All right, let's try.
[line ringing]
[tense music]
- Your call
has been forwarded--
- All right, so I guess--
should we send a text?
- Hey, Antonio, I'm here
in Valdosta with Angel,
filming "Catfish"
and would love to meet you.
[phone blips]
Mm-kay.
And we're off.
- Let's see what he says.
- Okay.
- Give him till the end
of the day to get back to us.
- Okay.
- All right?
- We're gonna get this guy.
- Thanks so much.
- Let's go.
- All right.
- Get out of your hair.
- We'll see you tomorrow?
- Okay.
- Bye, Angel.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- [sniffles]
- Wow,
Angel was really distraught.
I feel terrible for her.
- There's no doubt in my mind
that this guy's a scam artist.
- Right.And--
- And I think she also
is coming to terms with that.
- It's heartbreaking to know
that somebody
is actually using me
for just money.
Hopefully Nev and Laura
can help me and
try to figure this out
because I need answers.
♪ ♪
[phone blips]
- Whoa.
All right, is this Kap?
Okay.
"Hey, Nev, I was calling..."
- So let's call him.
What do you got, Kap?
[line ringing]
[tense music]
- Hey, morning.
What's up, Kap?
- What?
- Wait a second.
- His trophies?
- Who is this guy?
How long has he worked for you?
- Well--
- What does this guy look like?
- So he knows we're onto him.
- Oh, my God.
- No.
- No.
- Oh, my God.
- Are you cool with us
coming back
and meeting with this guy
at your club?
- Hang tight.
Don't say anything.
I'll shoot you a text
when we're heading over,
and We'll see you
in a little bit.
- What?
- This is a high-stakes
situation.
- We don't even know
that this is guy,
so I feel like
we should go there...
- True.
- Talk to him, see if it's him,
and if it is,
get his side of the story.
- All right.
Back to Déjà Vu.
This is a [bleep] first
if Antonio really told the
truth about where he works.
We've never nailed
someone like that.
Let's call Angel.
[line ringing]
- Hey, we've got some news.
We think we found our guy,
and we know where he is,
so get yourself ready.
We will pick you up.
- See you soon.
[tense music]
There she is.
Hello.
- Hey.
- So here's what we found out.
We spoke to the owner
over at Déjà Vu this morning
and he said he just found out
the security guard
was bragging about
all these girls
he talks to on the Internet,
and he calls himself Antonio.
- He calls them his trophies.
- Trophies?
- Yeah.
Apparently,
it's the same security guard
that when we went
there yesterday,
- He opened the door for us.
- He was there.
- So he knows we're here.
- I have, like,
a ton of questions.
- Let's just head over there
and stop wondering
and start answering.
We don't even know how many
girls he's been scamming.
- I promise you
I'm nobody's trophy.
I'm not something
you could sit on a shelf.
- That's for sure.
- Here we are.
You ready to do this?
- Yeah.
- Are you nervous?
- Very.
- I'm kind of freaking out.
- There he is.
All right.
- All right.
- Hey, how you doing?
- Hey, Kap, good to see you.
- All right.
Good to see y'all again.
- This is Angel.
- How you doing?
- This is Kap.
- All right.
- So he's in there?
- Yeah, he in there.
I ain't tell him what for.
I just told him
y'all were coming by
to ask him some questions.
- Oh, you told him?
Okay.
- When you asked me about
his name being James,
I didn't know that.
His name--
'cause I call him Jay.
- Jay.
- Yeah, so,
when I had looked in
his application
and seen that his name
was James Williams.
- Whoa.
So that is his name.
- Okay.
- Well, let's head on in.
♪ ♪
That's him over there.
You don't know that guy, do you?
- Mm-mm.
- Here we go.
Hey, man.
How you doing?
- Good.
Nev.
- Nice to meet you.
- Jay.
Or James.
- Jay.
Oh, okay.
- Didn't get a chance
to meet you yesterday,
but you let us in.
- Yeah, I saw you yesterday.
- Did you--did anyone mention
what we were doing around here?
- They said you were
looking for somebody.
- I think there's a chance
you may have been talking
to our friend, Angel.
Do you know who she is?
- Nah.
- You don't know who she is?
- No, I do not.
- She's been talking
to someone in Valdosta.
She's become
very close with him,
and he said he worked here,
and a couple things
sort of pointed us to you.
- But your name
is James Williams, right?
- My legal name?
- Yeah.
- How you guys know
my legal name?
- The number that Angel's
been texting and talking to
is registered
to James Williams,
and Kap confirmed that
that's also your name.
- Yeah.
- So I'm pretty sure it's you
that Angel's been talking to.
♪ ♪
- [laughs softly]
- Okay, yeah.
- Right.
Okay, so that is you?
- Yes.
- So you've been calling
yourself Antonio?
- Yes.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
- I need a break.
- All right.
- Yeah.
- [heavy sigh]
[weeping]
- I think you can understand
why she might be upset.
- Yes, I can understand.
- Okay.
- I'm gonna go with Angel, okay?
- Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Okay.
- Obviously you're not
the guy in the photos.
Angel's very invested in this,
both emotionally
and financially.
- And you have not
been honest with her.
- No, I have not.
- She, I think,
deserves to know what's up.
- You okay?
- That's his voice.
- That's him?
- Yes.
- I'm sorry.
For him to, like, pretend
that he didn't even know you
is so stupid.
- Why?
Like, just...
Why?
- I'm so sorry.
- Like, put me through
all this for what?
I sent you money.
Like, I want it back.
I want to sit down
and get answers of why.
- Are you ready to go back in
and talk to him?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [sniffs]
- You're taking money
from Angel.
- That was offered to me.
It was never my intention.
- Well, okay,
but she's offered
because you've suggested
you needed money.
- I was just telling her
what I was going through.
- I know,
but she sent you almost $400.
And when she sent it to you,
you took it.
- Yes.
[tense music]
- We kind of want to sit down
so we can get some answers.
I think Angel's ready.
- Can we just
set some chairs up?
- All right.
- So you're from Valdosta?
- Yeah.
- How old are you?
- I'm 34.
- And are you married?
- I'm not married.
- Why then when we called you
on your house phone,
did your wife answer?
- House phone?
I don't have a house phone.
- You're not married?
Do you live with someone?
- Nobody's living with me,
and I'm not married.
- Okay, well, it could've
been a weird mix-up.
Sometimes these websites
aren't perfect.
- Whose bank account
information did you give me?
- Do you remember sending her
to the Verizon store?
- Yeah, that was
my bank account information.
- But why can't you
just pay your bill?
Honestly.
- Do you even have a daughter?
- Yes, I have a daughter.
I can show you pictures of her.
- How many women
do you think you've catfished?
- That's quite a few.
- More than 10?
- Yes.
- More than 40?
- Yes.
- Mo--100?
- More than that.
- More than 100?
- Yes.
- Over how many years?
- Since I was, like, 19.
- That's 15 years.
- Yes.
- Wow.
- Why did you tell me
that you love me?
Like, are your feelings
even real,
or were you just saying that?
- I honestly love you
as a person,
honestly, but not romantically.
- Why say it to me?
You really led me on to believe
like you were somebody,
like, that I could
make a future with.
It was just basically a game.
- That was not a game for me.
- Do you feel bad?
- Yes, I do feel bad.
- 'Cause that's hard to believe
when you admit that you've
been doing this for 15 years
to hundreds of women, like...
- Yeah.
- It just sounds like
you're a con artist.
- It's never about
the money for me.
- If it's not about the money,
then why send a picture
of "Antonio"
in the hospital and say,
"If I don't--if he doesn't
get money, he's gonna..."
- "If you love me,
you would send the money.
If you love my friend,
you would send the money."
- Those messages
I don't remember, honestly.
I don't.
- She remembers.
- Every story that I told you,
I was just telling you what
I was going through
at that time.
You offered.
- You gave her
your Cash app information.
So you are asking for money
if you're--
- She asked for it.
- No, like, I said
I would have to see because
I was going through things
that I had to pay for,
and you got upset
if I couldn't help.
I'm a single mother.
You know, like,
I barely have money.
I've literally sent you
my last $10,
and I went without.
- I honestly don't recall
that message
that you're talking about.
I honestly don't.
- But that's not true.
Because you've talked
to hundreds of people.
Are you ready to, like,
be real about it?
- I'm honestly not pretending.
I hid behind this picture.
I was bullied in school
'cause I was always bigger.
That was a coping mechanism.
- I was bullied,
but I'm not gonna hide
behind a picture
and treat people the way
that I got treated.
That's not right.
- I want to believe that
you're using this
as a coping mechanism,
but, like, do you know
how we know who you are?
It's because you were
bragging to someone
that worked at the club,
and saying, like,
"I got all these girls,
and they're my trophies."
That doesn't sound like someone
that's going through
a hard time.
That sounds like you are
taking people as trophies.
- They're not trophies.
- Did you say that?
- I've never expressed them
as trophies.
But I can admit that
I have a problem.
I honestly want to stop.
If you will allow me
to be your friend as me,
I would love to.
- I don't think
that's possible.
You've lost
my trust completely.
- I'm truly sorry,
like, honestly,
for all of this.
- Maybe you can start regaining
her trust by repaying her.
That's, like,
a very specific, clear way
that you could repay your debt.
- Yeah.
- And I want to believe you,
that you're ready to,
like, finally stop,
but you gotta be ready
now to prove it.
- Is there anything else
that you want to say,
or are we...
- I don't think so.
- All right.
- [exhales]
- Thank you for talking
and admitting
and coming clean
and explaining all this.
All right, man.
See you around.
- Thank you, guys.
- No more catfishing.
- Yeah.
- Thank you, Kap.
- Thanks for helping us
clear that up.
- Hey, no problem.
- Thank you so much.
- I'm gonna give you
a hug, child.
- ♪ Bleeding home ♪
- How do you feel
about all that?
- How is that a coping method?
- I would believe him
if he weren't
making out financially.
He's the most manipulative
catfish you've ever had.
- ♪ I can't stand the wait ♪
- What's next for Angel?
- Working on me, my daughter,
and just going to school.
- No new friends?
- No.
- Is that where
we're at right now?
- Yeah, no new friends.
- ♪ Falling away ♪
[line ringing]
- Hey.
- Hey.
- What's up, Angel?
Have you spoken to James?
- He texts me,
like, ever so often.
- Huh.
- But I have no feelings.
- So has James offered
to pay you back at all?
- He said that
he was going to,
but it's become
a thing over time, so...
- Yeah, I'm not gonna hold
my breath for that one.
- Are you "talking"
to anyone now?
- I have a friend
that I've been talking to.
He's really nice.
- Wait a second.
Is this an Internet
relationship?
- We've got to video chat.
We've got to everything,
so I know he's real.
- All right, good.
- Check, check, check.
- All right, Angel.
Hang in there, okay?
- All right, I will.
- Bye.
both: Bye.
[line ringing]
- Hello.
- Whoa, James.
Hey, man.
What's been going on
since we all last met up?
- I've retired.
- You're "retired?"
So Antonio is gone, or what?
- Yes.
He's gone.
It's a struggle sometimes,
but it's a relief.
- Yeah, I think that's probably
best just for everybody.
- Yes.
- And what about Angel?
There was some money involved.
Have you ever tried
and pay her back some of that?
- Yes, I'm working towards it.
- It doesn't have to be
all at once.
- Pay her back.
- I'm working on it.
- No more fake profiles.
No more romance scamming.
- You really have to stop
asking people for money.
- Yeah.
- Take it easy, man.
- You, too.
both: Bye.
1104
00:41:16.