Review | Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix)
A shocking case of digital Munchausen by proxy - and what it teaches us about online safety in encrypted instant messaging world.
SPOILERS – Warning: this review contains spoilers and quotes from the documentary
This is a review of the Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (2025).
This case is a 9/10 on the insanity scale — the only reason it’s not a 10 is because, thankfully, no one died as a result of Kendra Gail Licari’s actions.
The case of Kendra Gayle Licari, a Michigan mother, drew national attention because of its unusual and truly disturbing nature. Beginning in 2021, Licari used a sophisticated digital ruse to anonymously stalk and harass her own teenage daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend for nearly two years. She created fake online identities, used VPNs to mask her location, and sent thousands of threatening and degrading messages, making it appear as though the harassment was coming from other students. The messages were relentless, filled with cruel insults and manipulative language intended to isolate her daughter socially and emotionally.
The texts were vile: sexually aggressive, filled with horrific insults, and at times urging both teenagers to end their lives. The documentary shows many of these messages on screen—it’s truly unfathomable. The situation escalated to the point where local school officials and even the FBI became involved when the harassment could not be traced to any classmates or outsiders.
One of the most chilling aspects of the case was how deeply Licari wove herself into the investigation. She initially helped her daughter report the harassment, presenting herself as a supportive parent, while secretly being the perpetrator. Investigators later uncovered that Licari sent more than 12,000 messages to her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend, using technological tools to cover her tracks and prolong the torment. This deception allowed her to both inflict emotional harm and appear as a concerned mother, compounding the betrayal and psychological damage.
How could a mother do this?
This may be one of the first cases of digital Munchausen by proxy we’ve ever seen. Until Licari was finally confronted, the abuse continued for 19 months. She watched her daughter’s mental health decline and pressed on anyway. Other students were dragged into the chaos as well, their lives disrupted by her false accusations and manipulations.
Cases like Licari’s are rare but fit into a broader, emerging category of abuse recently described as technological Munchausen by proxy or digital Munchausen, where a caregiver fabricates or induces harm through online means. Traditionally, Munchausen by proxy involved a parent exaggerating or fabricating illness to gain sympathy, control, or financial benefit. In the digital age, it can evolve into orchestrated cyberbullying, false threats, or fabricated harassment campaigns—sometimes, shockingly, targeting their own children.
A handful of similar cases have surfaced—such as parents faking their child’s illness in fundraising scams or creating anonymous accounts to harass their kids—but Licari’s is among the most extreme, especially in scale and deception. Experts see it as a disturbing convergence of psychological manipulation and modern technology, weaponizing the very tools meant to connect people.
The technological backdrop that made such abuse possible is relatively recent. Text messaging became widespread in the late 1990s, exploding among teens in the early 2000s. By the mid-2000s, smartphones and messaging apps like WhatsApp (2009), Kik (2010), Snapchat (2011), and Instagram DMs made constant, private communication the norm for teenagers. VPNs, first developed in the 1990s for businesses, became accessible to the public in the 2010s as privacy concerns grew. This combination—ubiquitous smartphones, private messaging apps, and easy-to-use anonymity tools—created the conditions for digital abuse to be carried out invisibly, making detection slower and more complex.
If you’re a parent, teacher, or have young people in your life, you should watch this documentary. It’s tough viewing, but the lessons about protecting kids online are vital.
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Online Harassment and Sextortion: At an Alarming High
These aren’t isolated horrors. The Licari case is happening against a backdrop of skyrocketing online abuse.
• 67% of U.S. teenagers reported experiencing some form of cyberbullying on social media platforms in 2025, with Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok topping the list.
• 1 in 4 high school students reports receiving direct threats through messaging apps, yet only 38% confide in a trusted adult.
• In the U.K., Snapchat alone accounted for about 20,000 grooming cases involving children last year.
• The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 546,000 reports of adults soliciting children online in 2024—a 192% increase from the year before.
On the sextortion front, the numbers are just as grim:
• NCMEC documented a 1,325% surge in reports involving generative AI in 2024.
• More than 10% of Australian teens reported experiencing sextortion, often before age 16, and over 40% of cases involved deepfake or AI-manipulated imagery.
• Since 2021, at least 36 U.S. teen suicides have been linked to sextortion.
These figures reflect a daunting reality: technologies designed to connect us are increasingly weaponized against the most vulnerable.
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The Licari case leaves us with far more questions than answers. Beyond the staggering betrayal of a mother turning against her own child, there are disturbing undertones of covert grooming and inappropriate sexual content directed at her daughter’s boyfriend—minors who endured explicit language, manipulated images, and sustained psychological pressure. Licari pointed to her own unprocessed trauma as an excuse, claiming she wanted to control her daughter’s teenage experiences to prevent harm. But in reality, she created the very danger she claimed to fear, weaponizing her pain in ways that left deep emotional scars. In fact, she hardly takes accountability for what she actually did. It’s chilling to imagine how differently this case might have been perceived had a father been the perpetrator. The sentencing never fully addressed those darker layers, and many feel she walked away lighter than the severity of her crimes warranted.
This case is a stark reminder of the dangers embedded in digital life. Phones and apps give kids extraordinary opportunities for connection and creativity, but they also open the door to exploitation—sometimes even from those closest to them. As parents and communities, we urgently need to rethink how young people engage with technology: delaying smartphones, opting for simpler “dumb phones,” or fostering open conversations about online risks. No child deserves what Licari’s daughter and her boyfriend endured.
Watching the documentary is difficult but worthwhile—both for its raw lessons and as a call to protect our youth from predators who exploit digital spaces. My hope is that Licari’s daughter can find healing, reclaim her story, and move forward into a safe and fulfilling life. Cases like this shock us, but they also challenge us to do better for the next generation.