SEVEN students who thought they’d met their dream man online were horrified to find out they were all being catfished by another woman.
But the scammer behind the fake account has now hit back at people who judge her for what she did and insists her victims are painting her “in a bad light”.
“I’m not here to justify what I did,” catfish Kayla, who chose to keep her surname concealed, said.
“Is it hard? Absolutely. I went about figuring out my life the wrong way.”
Kayla posed as a man named Hyrum or Hunter and formed romantic relationships with seven women on social media.
Her victims were all students at Brigham Young University in Utah, US.
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Some were strung along for over three years, thinking one day they’d finally be able to meet their “Prince Charming” and live happily ever after.
A number of the relationships even turned sexual, leaving the victims feeling “violated”.
Kayla revealed that the man she chose to be her online persona was picked at random through Facebook.
When her victims would ask to meet Hyrum or Hunter, she would pretend he was too busy.
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“I would see where they are coming from if they [feel violated],” the catfish said in an interview with Dr Phil.
Interestingly, Kayla actually fell in love with one of her victims, named Sarah, despite the pair never meeting each other.
“You talk to people all the time, but not all of them start out as relationships,” Kayla said. “Some of it was just casually talking and it got there.
“I really don’t remember the mindset I was in at that time.
“I didn’t have any evil intentions in this.”
Kayla says she set up the fake profiles to explore her sexuality, a route she felt forced to take as a Mormon who didn’t want to be expelled from her community.
Mormonism is a complex religion, loosely defined as a type of Christianity, which follows both the Bible and Book of Mormon.
The church condemns homosexuality, but states that being attracted to the same sex is permissible in the religion if it is not acted upon.
Kayla, who is now openly gay, used her online persona to learn more about her sexuality and personal alignment with Mormonism.
She has since insisted the victims of her romantic scam are actually “mean girls” who have “targeted” her since her real identity came out.
“When the truth came out, they made phone calls to my bishop,” she said. “And basically outed me to him.
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“[They did things] that they weren’t in line to do and blamed me for certain actions that they did.”
Kayla added that the women have broken a no-contact order by trying to contact her on Instagram, and claims they have even gossiped about her sister’s miscarriage.
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