Teacher uses fake persona to catfish colleagues into online relationship

A teacher who used a fake online persona to catfish colleagues into sending intimate photos is guilty of serious misconduct, a Teacher Disciplinary Tribunal has found.

One of the online relationships continued for more than a year in “a lengthy and disturbing ruse”.

The defendant, who was later diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), said she felt “deep remorse” for her actions which were not taken “maliciously or consciously”.

The Teacher Tribunal cancelled the woman’s teaching certificate but left it open for her to reapply.

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In 2019 the woman created a fake Tinder profile of a man named James Segal and used the profile to match with another teacher, Ms Z.

A few days later, the woman messaged Ms Z from her real Facebook account. She said she was “very close” family friends with Segal and had heard the two had matched.

Ms Z and “Segal” began to message daily.

Their online relationship lasted from April 2019 to July 2020, during which Ms Z shared around 10 to 12 photos of herself, some of which showed her in lingerie.

Segal’s photos did not include his face and he made repeated excuses about why they couldn’t meet in person.

By July 2020, Ms Z’s family became suspicious and – after searching online – discovered Segal’s photos were actually pictures of Australian Federal League Player Shaun Higgins and images taken from two other Instagram accounts.

In April 2019, another teacher, Ms Y, was also tricked into exchanging photos.

Ms Y matched with “Segal” on Bumble, was told that he was a friend of the woman and began flirting with him online.

“Segal sent a semi-naked picture of his abdominals in his underwear, not showing his face.

“Over the next week, Segal sent messages pressuring [Ms Y] into sending a picture of her in just her bra and underwear showing her face in the picture,” the Tribunal said.

After Ms Y sent the photo she didn’t get a response within 8 hours and was left “very distraught”. Ms Y ended communication with both the Segal account and the woman.

Ms Y didn’t discover the texts had been faked until July 2020 when the woman was stood down from teaching because of her fake relationship with Ms Z.

Sally Thomas, Clinical Psychologist said the woman’s DID and post-traumatic stress disorder could have significantly contributed to her actions.

“People with DID may experience amnesia resulting in significant gaps in memory and a sense of having lost time. They may forget saying or doing things that others have witnessed.

“Such behaviour can have an impact on the capacity to maintain consistency and interiority in relationships,” Thomas said.

Taking the her mental health into account, the Tribunal cancelled her teaching certificate but left it open for her to reapply if her situation changed.

Since July 2020, the woman had attended weekly intensive psychotherapy sessions, reported regularly to a probation office and paid $1000 to each victim.

The teacher was ordered to pay $1,886.38 plus and an additional $582 to cover the cost of the proceedings.