A new episode of MTV’s “Catfish” filmed in Central New York will air this week, and a preview reveals some of the local victim’s story.

A Syracuse man named “CJ” contacted “Catfish” host Nev Schulman, telling him he was 17 when he first contacted a 21-year-old woman in New Jersey named Shana over Facebook. Eight years later, CJ says he’s “in love” with Shana but still has never met her.

“I saw her in my ‘People You May Know’ (section of Facebook) and instantly I just start hittin’ her up,” CJ, now 25, says in a preview video. “We got into a relationship and I was supposed to meet her in New Jersey, but she disappeared on me... The whole time that we been talking, it’s been excuses about everything, like ‘I got called into work’ or ‘I got bad service.’”

Then she went silent and her Facebook page disappeared. Another Facebook user messaged CJ and told her that Shana died.

CJ struggled to move on, but two years later he saw a “Shana Vasquez” with the same profile picture, “back from the dead” on the social network. He messaged her, and eventually broke up with his real girlfriend to pursue a relationship with this “Facebook zombie,” as Schulman put it.

“You broke up with a real living person for a Facebook zombie?” Schulman asked.

Schulman promised to investigate “Shady Shana," and flew out to Syracuse with special guest co-host Justin Combs, a Harvard graduate student who also works at his father Sean “Diddy” Combs’ company. Schulman was spotted in Syracuse filming the episode in April.

Schulman and Combs said 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 if Shana is a real person, what was her motivation?

The rest of the episode, including the results of their investigation, will air Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 8 p.m. on MTV. Click here to watch a preview.

Schulman has hosted “Catfish” since 2012, highlighting people who are “catfished,” or fooled by a fake social media account created 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 duped into believing he was dating a woman online and was later told she died of leukemia -- when his girlfriend never existed.

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