: In the world of the INTERNETS . . . when someone PRETENDS to be someone else and lures you into a FAKE relationship, like what happened to that Notre Dame FOOTBALL player - it's called being CATFISHED!!!

Well it's starting to look like SOME DUDE tried to CATFISH R&B singer Trey Songz. But interestingly - the FAKER didn't pose as a FEMALE to peak Trey's interest . . . but as a MAN.

The FAKER stole the identity of a young handsome man on Instagram - and then started having ONLINE CONVERSATIONS with Trey. It's not clear WHETHER the two men had PRIVATE convos, but they seem AWFUL FRIENDLY - and they talked about "meeting up."

The ISH hit the fan yesterday when the TRUE IDENTITY of the pics on the instagram has the account Trey was talking to SHUT DOWN!!