Fake Internet People

It has been interesting to discover on the Ship of Fools, that a number of different personae were created by a single individual in order to dupe the community. One set of personae were a person who died of cancer and various other individuals, one of which committed suicide. As far as I can see, there was some Serbian connection and these people had obviously suffered torture during the conflict. I never really involved myself in any of the conversations but it would appear that many regular SOF people got sucked in via blogs, photos, emails and phone calls. Many sent flowers to funerals, cards of sympathy, wrote poems etc. There were two other characters stemming (I think) from the same individual: one a woman with Aspergers and the other a doctor whose husband was involved in a serious car accident. This was the persona I was aware of. On Saturday, after a week in hospital with serious head, chest and back injuries, the woman posted that her husband had died. Trouble was, he had never existed in the first place. And as you can imagine, a lot of people had invested time in wishing well, praying and feeling involved.

As far as I can see, these people (and on investigation this is a BIG problem) don't tend to want money or to scam you. What they want is your emotional energy. It would appear that the internet is the ideal place for a person with Munchausen's Syndrome and the condition has been especially renamed for people who need attention via the internet.
There is a well documented case to read here.

The internet is a great place but social interaction via the internet is completely different to other areas of life. Some people are naturally gullible, some naturally cynical. I think on reflection, we have to take people at their word on the whole. However that doesn't mean we can't be canny while using the internet; try these hints:

• Never give your own personal details out. If you "met" someone via a forum, always use the PM system in place there to communicate and make your email address invisible
• The more tragic the situation, the more alarm bells should ring
• Share your misgivings with someone else who you know and whose opinion you trust
• If the person posts long and detailed medical information, they are definately hoaxing. Try copy and pasting the words into Google and see if you can trace the original web page the information was lifted from
• Maintain a healthy distance from the person and try not to be sucked in as things will inevitably escalate in order to gain attention
• Be aware that various other characters will become involved in the story that give substantial weight to the whole charade. Look out for similar writing styles or larger than life characters, often all having a very difficult time
• If alarm bells are ringing because things don't add up, that's because the story isn't true.
• Check out any details you can. For example, if there was a major accident, search for it on the news, ask for details of hospitals, wards etc. You could always ring to find out if someone is actually there. Excessive maybe but will tell you once and for all if its a faker.
• Fakers like details but obviously don't want to be found out so when it comes to saying "Oh I'll send flowers!", they'll come up with all sorts of excuses.
• Try saying, "Oh I know that place really well" and try to get them to pin down locations. See them squirm.
  

Watch A Beginners Guide to Faking Your Death on the Internet. Be aware that the language there is not suitable for 4.30pm CBBC viewers but it is very good at summarising what I've said!

And just to let you know, I am real, honest!