Rejected petition To recognise catfishing as an individual statutory offence.

Introduce legislation addressing harmful online identity deception. The law should recognise when false identities are used to manipulate, exploit or cause harm online, and clarify how such conduct can be prosecuted alongside existing offences such as fraud, sexual offences and harassment.

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Catfishing is not currently a specific offence in UK law. Victims must rely on a patchwork of laws, such as fraud or harassment, which address the consequences rather than the deception itself. This creates confusion and gaps in protection, subverting the rule of law as a constitutional principle. Clear legislation would help victims understand their rights, support enforcement, and ensure the law keeps pace with this growing, under-addressed problem as technology and AI advance.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

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You may wish to sign this petition, which calls for similar action: "Make catfishing a specific criminal offence under coercive control laws" https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/756069

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 13 March 2026
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