A 24-year-old woman from Texas convinced at least eight Brigham Young University students that she was a Mormon man — and tricked them into falling in love. After comparing notes about their relationships, these women realized they'd been "catfished."

According to the Brigham Young Universe, the woman went by two aliases: Hyrum Young and Hunter Anderson, and used photos of her friends to create false personas. "Hyrum" or "Hunter" would start with a text, claiming he got the number through a mutual friend. The unnamed hoaxer had kept up the façade for years with various women, getting close to them through text messages and phone calls.

Hunter and Hyrum would, of course, make lots of excuses about why they couldn't meet their girlfriends in person, which would start fights. But it was those arguments that cracked the hoax for good. Hilary Hayes met Sara Van Wagenen, who had also been in touch with a guy who wouldn't meet her in person. They compared notes and realized they were being played. They found more and more women who had been victims too.

They tracked down their catfisher through an Idaho mission group that both Hunter and Hyrum had mentioned. They then filed a "no contact" order through the BYU police.

"I was really, really hurt," Van Wagenen told Fox 13 Now. "I was angry and I was mad. I was really hurt and confused. I had a lot of ill feelings towards this person … because I had trusted them."

The hoaxer, who spoke with the Universe on condition of anonymity, said she played those parts because she's gay and Mormon, and felt excluded and ashamed. "I catfished people to hide who I am inside, never with the intent to hurt anyone," she said. She said she regrets the pain she caused and no longer actively attends Mormon church services.

Hayes wrote on Facebook that after she went public, two more women contacted her to tell her they too were victims of the hoaxer. "Finding these girls and preventing more people from being manipulated and hurt is our purpose in all of this," she wrote. She is now working on a capstone project called CyberIQ, which teaches teenagers about online safety.

[H/T: Daily Mail

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