ROCKFORD - The story of Manti
Te'o and his infamous "catfishing" ordeal has been the focus of the national
limelight, but the concept of getting duped online is not uncommon. Sione Te'o goes by his American name Moak
Brown, he plays football for
"We started
chatting and it go to me liking her a little bit and I tried to ask her out,"
said the offensive lineman.
Te'o says the girl
claimed to be a model and she was going to visit him in his hometown in
"She didn't call or
text me so I just followed up on her with Facebook and I decided to look up her
name and see who she is," said Te'o. "It
turned out it was somebody else and this girl was different."
Being a Samoan,
Sione Te'o says their laid-back way of life is one that might make them more susceptible
to being "catfished". That's why he thinks
Manti Te'o was actually taken advantage of.
"Most of us Islanders
have humble hearts and we're loving people," said Sione Te'o.
"We love to give opportunity
to people to be friends with and it sucks to have it just become broken off of
somebody that's a hoax."
Sione Te'o says he's
lucky he was able to catch his hoax much quicker than Manti Te'o did. He says the girl he interacted with was not
nearly as involved as Manti Te'o trickster.
And as a football player himself, he understands how a young man being
the focus of national attention, found himself unable to extricate himself from
such a big lie.
"Manti Te'o became
a really big figure, especially at Notre Dame and because of him becoming a big
figure it's hard to get out of that publicity," said Sione Te'o.
Our Te'o says he
doesn't understand why people "catfish".
He says many people utilize the internet for socializing because they're
already shy. Playing a trick on those
who are more vulnerable, he says, is just wrong.
