A US police force appealed to the public on Monday using photos of an innocent male model to investigate the murder of two teenage girls.
The appeal included several of the man's images without his permission or approval, despite recognising he was not a 'person of interest' in the case.
Indiana State Police do, however, believe the model's photos were used to lure Liberty German, 14, and Abigail Williams, 13, to their deaths in 2017.
The appeal stated: "While investigating the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, detectives with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office and the Indiana State Police have uncovered an online profile named 'anthony_shots'.
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"This profile was being used from 2016 to 2017 on social media applications, including but not limited to, Snapchat and Instagram.
"The fictitious anthony_shots profile used images of a known male model and portrayed himself as being extremely wealthy and owning numerous sports cars.
"The creator of the fictitious profile used this information while communicating with juvenile females to solicit nude images, obtain their addresses, and attempt to meet them."
The statement then requested informants to share information about the unidentified user.
Seven photos of the model, who has since been identified as Vincent Kowalski, were then included beneath the appeal and he's very unhappy, according to TooFab.
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Kowalsk explained how catfishers had been using his images for years on a variety of different sites.
"Grindr, Kik, all of the dating websites. People use them trying to message girls.
"Someone sent me a screenshot of the YouTube video they did... I was like 'There's no way that's real,' he was completely blown away."
The former model is now a police officer and claims Instagram never took the fake accounts down, despite him reporting them several times.
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Now, he's worried about his family after the police used his images without his approval.
"A lot of the headlines are somewhat vague," he said, "When you google it my picture is the first thing you see.
"My face is blasted everywhere. People might think I had something to do with it. I spoke to my wife about it... I just hope nobody crazy tries to contact my family."
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Their bodies were discovered on Valentine's Day just outside their hometown of Delphi in the state of Indiana.
Nobody was ever arrested following an initial investigation involving two low-quality images of a suspect walking on a nearby abandoned railroad bridge.
Monday's police statement became the latest development in the curious homicide case.
Words: Charlie Metcalfe
Topics: World News, crime