Social Catfish
Social Catfish is a consumer-facing reverse people search and online identity verification platform offering name, phone, email, username, address, and image-based lookups across 200+ data sources, primarily serving individuals concerned about online dating safety, romance-scam prevention, and catfish detection.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersMurrieta, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Social Catfish does
Social Catfish is a privately held, Murrieta, California-based reverse people search and online identity verification platform that has operated since 2013 (incorporated as SocialCatfish, LLC). It serves individual consumers concerned with online dating safety, romance-scam prevention, catfish detection, and reconnecting with lost contacts, and it markets itself as the only firm in its category offering image-based identity verification. The product suite is anchored by six core reverse-lookup modules (name, phone, email, username, address, and image), supplemented by a Face Recognition Search module, a Search Specialist investigation service for complex fraud cases, a PrivacyLock data-breach monitoring tool, and a Chrome browser safety extension. The underlying engine aggregates data from over 200 trusted sources — social networks, government records, news, public databases, and professional records — covering over 200 billion records, with proprietary image-matching technology described as a core differentiator.
The business model is a consumer-facing freemium and subscription model: users initiate free search previews and pay for full reports or recurring subscriptions. Marketing is conducted through the ScamFish educational blog, the Catfished YouTube channel, organic social media on Facebook/X/Instagram/TikTok, SEO, email, and a recently launched affiliate program managed via Impact. The company claims 100M+ all-time search reports, 17M+ reports generated, 1M+ satisfied customers, 2M+ average monthly visitors, and 575K+ YouTube subscribers. It is bootstrapped, co-founded by David McClellan and Moe M., operates with a stated 1-10 employee footprint, and has been featured by CNN, Forbes, Reuters, AARP, and Inc. Magazine, including an Inc. 5000 fastest-growing-company recognition.
Social Catfish firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Social Catfish
- Legal name
- SocialCatfish, LLC
- Website
- https://socialcatfish.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Social Catfish is a consumer-facing reverse people search and online identity verification platform offering name, phone, email, username, address, and image-based lookups across 200+ data sources, primarily serving individuals concerned about online dating safety, romance-scam prevention, and catfish detection.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Social Catfish industry classification
Industry- Product category
- People Search and Identity Verification
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)
- SIC
- Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Identity Verification & Proofing (IDV, KYC, Biometrics) (HDADAAAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Fake Account & Synthetic Identity Detection (HDADALAD), Verification & Risk Signals (Device Fingerprinting, Behavioral Biometrics) (HDADALAJ)
Keywords
Where Social Catfish is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Murrieta
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Social Catfish business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Paid Search Reports: Free tier allows starting searches and viewing limited previews of results. Paid plans unlock full reports, deeper matching, and expanded details based on available public data. Subscription-based model with ongoing access to search tools.
- Freemium Access: Free search start with preview of potential matches. Full access requires paid subscription.
- Affiliate Commission: Affiliate program earns $12-$100+ commission per sale through unique tracking links. Managed through Impact platform.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free tier with limited previews |
| Subscription | Monthly | Paid plans for full reports |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels6 records
Social Catfish product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Social Catfish operates a self-serve web-based reverse people search and identity verification platform. Users can search by name, phone number, email, username, address, or photo, with a proprietary reverse image search engine scanning 200+ billion records across social networks, government sources, news articles, public databases, and professional records. Free previews are offered with paid subscriptions unlocking full identity reports, and additional tools include face recognition search, search specialist investigation services, PrivacyLock data protection, and a Chrome browser extension.
Product overview
Social Catfish is a reverse people search and identity verification platform offering a unified product with multiple integrated search modules. The core platform consists of six search types: People Search (name), Reverse Phone Lookup, Reverse Email Address Search, Reverse Username Search, Reverse Address Check, and Reverse Image Search. These core search tools access over 200 billion records across social networks, government sources, news articles, public databases, and professional records. Additional modules include Face Recognition Search for image-based identification, Search Specialist Investigation Services for complex fraud cases, PrivacyLock for data protection and breach monitoring, and a Protect Browser Extension for Chrome. The platform is supported by educational content through the ScamFish blog and Catfished YouTube channel, How-To video guides, and an Affiliate Program. The company was founded in 2013 and has grown to over 2 million monthly visitors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ScamFish: Consumer protection publication blog providing scam awareness guides, prevention tools, and online safety education along with real life catfish stories.
- Catfished
- PrivacyLock
Products and services
- People Search Reverse name search product that lets users find people by name and retrieve associated social accounts, contact information, addresses, phone numbers, and relatives. Targeted at individual consumers verifying identities or reconnecting with lost contacts.
- Reverse Phone Lookup Lookup product that identifies who may be behind an unknown phone number and surfaces related profiles and contact information. For individual consumers verifying callers or contacts.
- Reverse Email Address Search Search product that finds online accounts and presence connected to an email address to verify a person's identity. For individual consumers checking whether an email is tied to known profiles.
- Reverse Username Search Search product that finds profiles using the same username handle across multiple platforms to track an individual's online presence. For individual consumers verifying someone's cross-platform identity.
- Reverse Address Check Address lookup product that surfaces ownership history, assessed and market value, tax payment history, deed and tax records, loan history, and other related public records for a property. For individual consumers verifying counterparties before rentals or personal business deals.
- Reverse Image Search Upload-photo reverse image search product that uses proprietary technology and image metadata analysis to scan social networks and detect potential catfishers and fraudulent identities. For individual consumers verifying that photos from online contacts are authentic.
- Face Recognition Search Facial recognition-based image search product that identifies people from photos and can detect multiple faces in a single uploaded image. For individual consumers performing face-based identity lookups.
- Search Specialist Investigation Services White-glove investigation service for complex scam cases, romance scams, and various fraud cases involving money, delivered by a specialized search specialist team using available images and information. For individual consumers dealing with cases too complex for self-serve searches.
- PrivacyLock Privacy protection tool that helps users protect their data and monitor for data breaches on a daily basis. For individual consumers concerned about ongoing personal data exposure.
- Protect Browser Extension Chrome browser extension that helps users stay safe from scam or suspicious websites while browsing. For individual consumers seeking ongoing in-browser scam protection.
Quantifiable outcome
- 100M+ search reports run
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Social Catfish
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Social Catfish technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability6 records
Feature3 records
Social Catfish partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators10 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Social Catfish competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Checkr: Checkr is a larger, well-capitalized background-check platform primarily serving enterprise and gig-economy hiring. It overlaps with Social Catfish's background-verification use case but operates at significantly larger scale and in B2B rather than direct-to-consumer.
Direct peers
- PeopleFinder: PeopleFinder is a long-standing consumer people-search service offering reverse phone, address, and name lookups under a similar freemium/subscription structure.
- CocoFinder: CocoFinder is a free-to-paid reverse people search engine that aggregates public records and social data, competing head-to-head with Social Catfish on name, phone, email, and address lookups.
- Intelius: Intelius offers consumer-facing people search, background reports, and reverse lookups under a subscription model, making it a close direct peer in product scope and target customer.
- Instant Checkmate: Instant Checkmate delivers subscription-based public-records and people-search reports to consumers, with comparable content-marketing-led customer acquisition and overlapping feature set.
- Spokeo: Spokeo is a direct competitor offering consumer people search across name, phone, email, and address, with a similar freemium-to-subscription model and focus on social-profile aggregation for identity verification.
- TruthFinder: TruthFinder provides deep people search and background reports aimed at consumers wanting detailed identity, criminal, and public-records data — directly overlapping Social Catfish's premium-report positioning.
- BeenVerified: BeenVerified runs a comparable subscription-based people search and background-check product targeting consumers, with overlapping marketing channels and a similar pricing ladder.
Emerging players
- PimEyes: PimEyes is a face-recognition and reverse-image search platform for finding where a person's photo appears online — directly comparable to Social Catfish's reverse image search and Face Recognition modules, with a more privacy-sensitive positioning.
- TinEye: TinEye is a pioneer in reverse image search used to track where images appear online. While more general-purpose, its image-matching technology is directly comparable to Social Catfish's proprietary reverse image capability.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Social Catfish social profiles
Digital presenceSocial Catfish financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Social Catfish leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Social Catfish funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Social Catfish M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Social Catfish
What does Social Catfish do?
Social Catfish operates a self-serve web-based reverse people search and identity verification platform. Users can search by name, phone number, email, username, address, or photo, with a proprietary reverse image search engine scanning 200+ billion records across social networks, government sources, news articles, public databases, and professional records. Free previews are offered with paid subscriptions unlocking full identity reports, and additional tools include face recognition search, search specialist investigation services, PrivacyLock data protection, and a Chrome browser extension.
Is Social Catfish a public or private company?
Social Catfish is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Social Catfish founded?
Social Catfish was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Social Catfish based?
Social Catfish is headquartered in Murrieta, United States, in the North America region.
How does Social Catfish make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Paid Search Reports are the primary driver. The others are freemium Access and affiliate Commission.
Who are Social Catfish's main competitors?
Checkr is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are PeopleFinder, CocoFinder, Intelius, Instant Checkmate, Spokeo, TruthFinder and BeenVerified. Emerging players are PimEyes and TinEye.
Does Social Catfish have an API?
No public API is recorded for Social Catfish.
What industry is Social Catfish in?
Social Catfish's product category is People Search and Identity Verification. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADAAAF, Identity Verification & Proofing (IDV, KYC, Biometrics), with a secondary code of HDADALAD, Fake Account & Synthetic Identity Detection. Its NAICS code is 51929 and its SIC code is 7320.