CHICAGO (NewsNation) —  The phenomenon known as catfishing — or using a fake online persona to lure someone into a false relationship — is more common than it’s ever been.

Even so ,former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer maintains the level of identity theft NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan and her race car driver boyfriend, Chase Cabre, have undergone is the worst kind there is.

“In this case, this is the worst kind of case, where they actually want to become the puppet master and control the actions of another and sit back and watch what’s happening,” Coffindaffer said on “Rush Hour” on Wednesday.

Deegan, who is winner of NASCAR Truck Series’ most popular driver award, missed the Freedom 500 race in Bradenton, Florida, last week after having to “deal with something on the personal, safety side.”

In a 15-minute YouTube video the following Monday, Deegan and Cabre sat together explaining that someone impersonated her online and, in the process, convinced an obsessed male fan they had been dating, even sending her an eight-page letter on the matter.

Upon further investigating, Deegan said the fan was convinced that Cabre is abusive and that she is “practically being held hostage.”

“And so this guy ends up getting wrapped in this whole deal believing Chase beats me,” Deegan says in the YouTube video. “And I would normally not be worried about this, if the fact wasn’t this person, this guy, lives near my race shop, near where I live, my home. It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me scared. You shouldn’t be scared at your own house.”

The situation was going on for a couple of months but they decided to place matters in the hands of officials once things escalated.

“It pretty much changed a few days ago, when he posted stuff saying he was going to practically come and kill Chase,” Deegan said. “And his exact words were not ‘going to kill Chase,’ but he’s going to come and he is going to be the last thing Chase ever sees.”

Coffindaffer told “Rush Hour” this is where the victim of the catfishing transitions into an offender and that laws with stricter punishments should be written and enacted to deter this sort of activity.

“It’s not that he’s not doing something against the law, even now. The problem is, this is just a misdemeanor crime in North Carolina,” she said. “And the FBI’s hands are crossed because this is not crossing interstate crimes.”

The hope is that nothing tragic has to happen before that happens.

“So now we don’t really have a crime that’s worthy of putting someone in jail for until, unfortunately, something really actionable happens,” Coffindaffer said.