Teen catfish victim wins £10k court payout after identity stolen by girl in her town

A teenage student who was subjected to a four-year “catfishing” nightmare after her identity was stolen by another teenage girl in her town has received a £10,000 compensation payment from the High Court.

When she was just 16, Sasha Davies was targeted by “total stranger” Elha-Mai Weston (another teenager living in the same Welsh town), who used social media images and AI-generated content to create a series of fake online profiles.

Ms Weston, who targets men on Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Tinder and other platforms and lives in the same area of ​​Glamorgan, Wales, as Sasha, reached more than 100,000 followers who thought the profiles belonged to Sasha.

Some were even misled by “catfish” Miss Weston into believing they were romantically involved with Sasha, now 19, and stopped her on the street to talk to her.

Despite contacting the police, the campaign continued on seven different platforms for nearly four years until Sasha found lawyers who could help her find her abuser.

She sued the identity thief at the High Court in London and has now won a £10,000 compensation payment after Ms Weston pleaded guilty through her lawyers and apologized in front of a judge.

Speaking later, Sasha said: “For four years someone else lived a life like me, talking to men like me, while strangers approached me on the street thinking they knew me.

“I reported this over and over again and felt like nothing could be done. I stopped feeling safe leaving the house.

“Hearing her admit it to herself in court and apologize means I can finally start to take my life back. I want other girls going through this to know that the situation is not hopeless, that the person who did this can be found.”

In a settlement statement filed in court with Ms Weston’s approval, Sasha’s lawyer, Chris Zabilowicz, said her ordeal began when she was just 16 and continued until the previous year.

“Ms Weston engaged in a sustained online campaign of impersonating Ms Davies, commonly known as catfishing,” Mr Justice told Fordham.

“Ms Weston created and operated numerous accounts under the fictitious identity ‘Sophie’ and derivatives thereof, including ‘Sophie Kadare’.

“These accounts have amassed more than 100,000 followers in total and Ms Davies’ photographs and, over time, AI-generated images have been used without her knowledge or consent.

“Through these accounts, Ms. Weston communicated with numerous individuals, including personal and romantic conversations.

“As a result, Ms Davies was approached on many occasions by members of the public who had interacted with the persona of ‘Sophie’ and believed they had formed a genuine connection with her.

“On one occasion, a man showed Miss Davies messages he had shared with one of the fake accounts over a period of months, believing she was in a romantic relationship.”

Although Sasha contacted the police about the harassment, most of the accounts were only deleted after she appeared on BBC ‘This Morning’.

Ms Weston was later identified by Sasha’s lawyers, Cohen Davis Solicitors, through an open source intelligence investigation linking the fake person’s network of accounts to her real identity.

High Court proceedings began when Ms Weston accepted the settlement of the case and concluded with the reading of an agreed statement in court this week.

Mr Zabilowicz said Ms Weston accepted “her behavior was unfair” and added: “She also acknowledges the significant distress and pain it caused Ms Davies.

“Ms Weston deeply regrets her actions and apologizes wholeheartedly and unreservedly to Ms Davies for everything that has happened to her.”

As part of the decision to resolve the case, Ms Weston, who did not attend the court hearing, agreed to pay Sasha £10,000 in compensation and promised that she would never be contacted, all material would be deleted and she would not repeat her actions again.

Any breach of the order could result in being brought before a judge for contempt of court and risk imprisonment for disobedience.

Speaking later, Sasha’s lawyer Yair Cohen said: “For four years Sasha did everything right. She reported it to the platforms and the police and failed because the person behind the accounts was anonymous and everyone looked at anonymity as the end of the road.”

“Not so. We identified him using open source intelligence from traces left behind by his own accounts. When a catfish loses his anonymity, the campaign collapses.

“Catfishing is one of the most misunderstood forms of online harassment. People imagine a distant stranger, but in every case we’ve handled, including this one, the person behind the accounts was someone from the victim’s own world.”

“There is no such crime as catfishing on the statute book, but the behavior associated with it (harassment, misuse of private information, breach of data protection law) is illegal and civil courts can provide identification, compensation and enforceable protection.

“This matter is not over either. Now that we have the evidence and admissions of the crime in open court, we will ask the police to investigate.”