MTV’s “Catfish" has found its first-ever “serial Catfish stalker” in Central New York.

The reality TV show aired a wild new episode on Wednesday that centered on a Syracuse man named Charles Tyler, Jr., who goes by “CJ.” CJ tells syracuse.com he was 17 years old and attending Corcoran High School when he first started talking to a woman named “Shana” on Facebook.

“Shana” claimed she was a 21-year-old mother living in New Jersey with one sick child named “Nunu." She ended up being exposed as a 38-year-old woman living in the Syracuse area with five healthy children.

Here’s how it all went down:

CJ fell “in love” with “Shana” over Facebook, text messages and phone calls, but still never met her after eight years. At one point, another Facebook user named “Destiny” told him that “Shana” died; two years later, “Shana” was back from the dead on Facebook and allegedly encouraged him to dump his real-life girlfriend for their online relationship.

He contacted “Catfish: The TV Show” host Nev Schulman about the “Facebook zombie," desperate for answers.

Schulman promised to investigate “Shady Shana," and flew out to Syracuse in April with special guest co-host Justin Combs, a Harvard graduate student who also works at his father Sean “Diddy” Combs’ company. They were confused as to why “Shana” would keep refusing to meet CJ, yet exchange racy photos and encourage him to break up with real-life girlfriends; she also never asked for money, so her motives were unclear.

These video stills from MTV's "Catfish" show a Syracuse man named CJ, left, who thought he was talking to a woman on Facebook named "Shana," right. They first started talking online eight years ago when he was 17; she claimed she was 21.

“The whole time that we been talking, it’s been excuses about everything, like ‘I got called into work’ or ‘I got bad service,'” CJ, now a 25-year-old cook living on Syracuse’s South Side, told Schulman.

During the investigation, Schulman and Combs contacted several other Facebook users and found at least three other men -- two in Syracuse, one in Utica -- who had been similarly duped into fake relationships with “Shana.” They all exchanged phone calls and text messages with her, but also never met her or were able to video chat over FaceTime or Skype with her.

“She’s a true catfish,” one of them told Schulman, adding that she once went to his workplace and described what he was wearing while still refusing to meet him.

Schulman was shocked to find "our first serial Catfish stalker.”

A “catfish” refers to someone who fools another person with a fake social media account, “catfishing” them with the intention of seducing and/or deceiving someone online. One of the most famous victims is former Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o, who was fooled into believing he was dating a woman online and was later told she died of leukemia -- when his girlfriend never existed.

Schulman, who has hosted “Catfish” since 2012, said all of his previous investigations only involved one victim. “Shana” did at one point claim her child had cancer and created a fundraising page on GoFundMe, but never collected any money from the men.

Schulman started suspecting she was just “messing with” multiple people for fun.

“I thought she really liked me. I thought I had this loyal girl," CJ said. "This is my breaking point, honestly.”

Schulman eventually got ahold of “Shana” -- and then encountered another twist. She was spying on him and Combs filming at a local hotel, and texted a picture of the two to CJ, asking about it.

“We’ve never had a Catfish, like, creep up on us like that,” Schulman said. "She’s playing with us. This girl really likes to play games.”

Eventually “Shana” agrees to meet with CJ, Schulman, and Combs at Long Branch Park in Liverpool while cameras were rolling.

She revealed herself as a 38-year-old woman named Rebecca; she did not give her last name. CJ was stunned, while Schulman was upset because he realized she first started talking to CJ when he was 17 and she was 30 years old.

"That’s kinda messed up. Like, it’s one thing to mess with people your own age, but to mess with a kid for eight years of his young adult life?” Schulman remarked.

A Syracuse-area woman named Rebecca, right, admitted on MTV's "Catfish" that she created a fake Facebook page for a woman named "Shana," left, and talked to multiple men. (MTV video stills)

Rebecca said she created “Shana” using pictures from a friend in an attempt to catch someone else she suspected of cheating. Rebecca also confessed she was “Destiny,” posing as a friend of Shana; actually had five kids; and admitted creating the fake GoFundMe page while stringing along CJ and the others.

“It was another lie to cover another lie to cover another lie,” she said.

CJ had trouble believing he had been duped so badly, but told Schulman he still wanted to give her a chance at friendship if she apologized.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t set out to hurt you,” Rebecca told CJ in another segment filmed at the Rise N Shine Diner. “I just don’t want you to not be there anymore. And I’m sorry.”

Two months later, Schulman followed up with CJ, who said he had finally stopped talking to Rebecca and vowed to be more careful about meeting people online. He also said he was now dating someone new in real life and credited “Catfish” with helping him move on.

“They gave me closure that I needed,” CJ told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

CJ also told syracuse.com that he’s still with his new girlfriend and hasn’t spoken to Rebecca in months.

“Catfish” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on MTV. The Syracuse episode is available on demand via MTV and MTV.com with a cable provider login.

The series previously filmed an episode in Watertown in 2015; when it aired in 2016, segments identified the Northern New York city as “Syracuse.”