'I thought he was a catfish, so I catfished him back. Then he flew overseas to see me.'

An influencer named Charlotte has shared a wild catfish tale, and there is a whole lot to unpack here.

It all started when the UK-based social media personality shared messages back and forth with a guy she fancied.

But when she started suspecting that the man wasn't who he said he was, she decided to get in first and pretend to be someone else.

Her idea, however, backfired.

Watch Charlotte's catfishing story. Post continues after video.

"I catfished this guy thinking he was catfishing me," she shared in a TikTok video.

"I'm currently at the airport. We agreed to meet here because he is from America. He is here; I can see him."

Charlotte explained that she had used a different influencer's photos when speaking to him via message. "He doesn't know what I look like, obviously — I catfished him. He thinks I'm Sophie Rain. I sent him Sophie Rain photos telling him that was me," she said.

"He is probably over there somewhere looking for Sophie Rain and he's not going to find her."

She finished the video, which has now racked up more than 3.5 million views, by saying: "I feel really bad and I don't know what to do."

Um… Okay.

Charlotte also shared the recent messages between herself and the American man.

Charlotte shared her messages with the American man. Image: TikTok/@babycharlotte1.

Sending him a photo of Sophie Rain wearing gym shorts and a white cropped baby tee, Charlotte had texted ahead of his trip: "Hey so I'll be wearing this, look out for me 😚."

The mystery man later responded: "Wow 🤩 just got off the flight."

When he didn't hear back, he started calling and messaging further.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the arrivals.

"Are you coming?"

"Hello?"

But Charlotte had already called her brother to pick her up from the airport, sharing another video from the car as she drove away.

"This has taught me not to always see the worst in people," she said. "I'm an awful person."

Still with no response from Charlotte, the man texted to let her know he was heading to his hotel. The next morning he asked if she wanted to meet, adding: "I promise I'm not some sort of catfish if that's what you're scared of 😆."

He started calling and messaging Charlotte further. Image: TikTok/@babycharlotte1.

Oh, the irony.

"Just let me know soon please," he asked.

The viral video eventually caught the attention of the ACTUAL Sophie Rain, who stitched Charlotte's original TikTok to share her thoughts.

"Hey, so um, that's insane," Sophie said.

"I'm sorry to the person who is waiting at the airport thinking that they're about to meet me, who thinks that they have been texting me. You're texting this girl who's pretending to be me and I'm really sorry, that's really lame and gross."

Charlotte then responded to Sophie's video, claiming she had "got the wrong end" of the story and *checks notes* doubled down on her decision to use the influencer's likeness??

"Fair enough, I did borrow your face and tell a guy that maybe I looked like you," Charlotte said. "But it was all my personality, that was real, I just used your face and body."

She suggested that Sophie was "being a bit of a spoil sport," and that she should have used a different influencer's photos.

Umm…

Sophia Rain responded to Charlotte. Image: TikTok/@sophieraiin.

But it gets wilder.

"If you don't mind, send me a photo of you looking really sick in bed so I can maybe send to him and tell him that was the reason I couldn't meet him," Charlotte asked Sophie.

While some comments found humour in the situation, the majority of people weren't in Charlotte's corner.

"He just wasted so much money… this was a terrible thing to do to someone," one person wrote.

"Girl. You need to tell him. He's alone in a foreign continent," another wrote.

"You just left him there!?"

"Please tell me this is a joke."

And while some accused Charlotte of "rage baiting" (AKA posting things that will rile people up on purpose for fun), overwhelmingly, they just wanted the guy to be let in on the joke that's being had at his expense.

"Poor guy," added a commenter. "Just tell him and meet him."

But in a surprising new update, the man ended up seeing the original video and reached out to Charlotte for clarity.

"He was like totally cool about it," Charlotte said — and yes, we are also flabbergasted at his chillness.

"He was like, 'I understand the situation, it's a bit weird but obviously you thought I was catfishing you, so you did catfish me.'"

Even after learning he'd been duped, the man was still "very interested" in Charlotte.

"He has asked me out on a date," she shared, adding that she planned to meet him in person.

While some commenters became skeptical at this point, others remained "invested" in Charlotte's story… Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it unfolds from here!

Mamamia has reached out to Charlotte for comment.