A Scots woman was left horrified after an online creep “catfished” her and then tried to steal her friends using a fake profile.
Alison Kyle was alerted to the fake account when her boyfriend asked her why she had created a new Instagram profile after he received a friend request.
The 26-year-old was shocked to discover the account had stolen her identify and five selfies last month.
Alison, from Motherwell, also noticed the catfish had sent requests to her boyfriend and friends while pretending to be her.
She said: “At first I was shocked and then I reported the page and shared what was happening on my own Facebook.
"I didn't know anything about it until my boyfriend got a follow request and asked me about it.
"I already follow him so that's when I looked at the page and realised that someone had took my photos and was pretending to be me.
"It did scare and worry me.
"I got everyone to report it and I made my account private but I started to worry about what kind of pictures they would put up or maybe send images to people and having them thinking these were photos of me."
The fake account shared images of Alison posed up with the captions ‘I love myself' and 'Cutie’.
It had also sent friendship requests to her own friends in a bid to appear authentic.
Alison took to her real social media and begged others to report the account after Instagram claimed 'it did not breach their community guidelines.'
It has since been removed after it was bombarded with complaints from Alison and friends.
She says she’s been left uneasy by the experience and worried why someone would chose her and try to trick her friends.
She also doesn’t know who was behind the catfish profile and when she asked them to reveal themselves, they blocked her.
Alison added: "I am a little worried it is someone I know but I don't think it would be.
"I like to think people are trustworthy.
"Im not really worried that I have a stalker, at least I don't think so. If I do I only have one question for them, why?"
"Why do people think that this is an okay thing to do.
“What goes through their minds when they decide they're going to impersonate someone?
"What are they gaining from this?"
