Catfishes used my pictures to snare women – they were left heartbroken and devastated, says Virgin Media’s Tommy Bowe

VIRGIN Media star Tommy Bowe has revealed his pictures were used to catfish someone and they were “devastated” to find out the truth.

The former rugby star spoke about catfishing with his co-star Muireann O’Connell on Ireland AM this morning.

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Tommy spoke about his pictures being used to catfish someoneCredit: Instagram

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Tommy said the person catfished was devastatedCredit: Instagram

The pair were discussing The 2 Johnnies podcast episode where Johnny O’Brien was catfished by someone.

They discussed this with cyberpsychologist Nicola Fox Hamilton and Tommy revealed his own experience with catfishing.

Speaking on the show he said: “I had someone set up a fake profile of me, it’s happened a few times.

“I didn’t really know about it but then I would get a message from somebody asking, ‘Is this you?’ And I would say, ‘No,’ and they would be heartbroken.

“They would be saying, ‘We have shared so many things together, stories, pictures, things like this.”

Muireann then asked: “That’s horrible. Does that leave you with a sense of guilt then?

“I know it’s not your fault but you’re sitting there going, ‘I’m sorry I’ve never spoken to you before in my entire life I don’t know who you are’.”

Tommy responded to this by saying: “One person in particular you could tell how distraught they were over this.

“So it’s a really physiological effect this is having on people and we’re even seeing this on the podcast with The 2 Johnnies.

“The level of detail and how long they were chatting to each other it can be quite impactful.”

This comes after Tommy was recently called out for using airport VIP treatment after poking fun at Alan Hughes.

The presenters were discussing how Dublin Airport has shut down its VIP service area with guest Aideen Finnegan.

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Tommy cheekily suggested that Alan would be devastated by the news.

He said: “This is one for Alan Hughes actually. The Dublin Airport VIP service has closed.”

Muireann and Tommy then burst into laughter.

Alan shouted: “I’ve never used it!”

Tommy later said: “So there you go it’s €290 per person including VAT.”

Aideen clarified: “Each way.”

Muireann asked: “Yeah but are they going on a private jet or do they go onto a normal plane?”

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Tommy said: “I think the car can go up to the normal plane.”

Muireann joked: “Why am I asking anyone? He’s [Alan] over there.

Alan added: “They do. They just go to the normal plane but it’s just the whole check-in process. I’ve never used it.”

Muireann joked: “Alan was like Tom Cruise one day underneath the fancy BMW car trying to get in, holding onto it going, ‘let me in’.”

But Aideen called out Tommy for having used the VIP service before.

She said: “Have you not been in it Tommy? When you were travelling with the rugby?”

Tommy admitted: “With the rugby, yeah.”

Muireann and Alan were fits of giggles at Tommy’s confession after poking fun at Alan.

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Tommy, Alan and Muireann spoke about VIP access in Dublin airportCredit: Instagram