What harm can a little fraud do?
I tell you I am a counsellor in my everyday life, and I talk to you. You come to trust me and tell me everything that you're thinking or feeling. After six months of telling me your innermost feelings, you suddenly find out I am a 16 year old boy with a very active and creative facebook page, one that you've been playing a starring role on. Og course the Facebook page is a fraud to, as I am actually a fifty-two year old single male trolling for eighteen year old girls.
A blogger comes in and tells you they belong to a certain group of people and tell you all kinds of stories. They earn your trust, and you pour hour upon hour of discussion and advice, friendship and faith into. You actually start to buy into their story, begin to support their efforts to advance their group. Suddenly you find out that they never were who they say they were, that it was all fake and that the real blogger was a troubled individual who was just seeking attention. It besmirches that group, the individual, and you as you begin to doubt your ability to judge reality.
In the case of fund raisers, you find out that after you have donated many dollars to said group that they only give five percent of your donation to the true cause and ninety-five percent goes to the administration and free goodies for others who donate. You vow never to donate to a cause again.
Fraud affects everyone around it. The people who participate and perpetuate these frauds do not realize the damage they do. People are forever made skeptical by such frauds, and they come to suspect everyone. They begin to doubt the reality of what others post, and that means that my message, whatever it may be, no matter how good the cause is looked at with suspicion and that damages my cause.
While I may be a bit naive thinking that my little blog may stop all fake bloggers from doing thier fake blogs, I can at least hope it reaches one....maybe two who decide to tell the truth and come back to reality. I can only hope.
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Comments
gina2me
It seems so ridiculous and I pity those people.
February 25, 2013Walkaboutman
I hear you. There certainly are some troubled people out there. If only they would own it they would get where they need to be. The internet has opened many doorways for one to be deceptive. Gain false confidence. Incite others from afar ( cowardness). If people would only drop all the B.S and be honest with their self they may actually find happiness.
February 25, 2013firewalker
but the question is . . . Who do you trust? No one? Then why do you trust what other people say about other people on here. (we don’t know the real story)
February 25, 2013timholzbaur
A very good question. I will just have to start using the same system I used on facebook and Myspace….look with your own eyes.
February 25, 2013firewalker
You mean verifying with evidence who others are?
February 25, 2013timholzbaur
No..things like ages and birthdates not matching up, an inability to use english properly as compared to their stated place of birth or education, and the avatar itself will say something. For instance, the choice of addressing ones self as something godlike then using a picture of a world saving hero from a famous movie would be a red flag to me.
February 25, 2013peanutbutter9
LOL
February 26, 2013EyeVey
People have been doing this to one degree or another, since being online became an every day thing. Back 15 years ago, various groups I belonged to online would have their share of imposters. There were those who had troubled pregnancies (faked), numerous hospitalizations, then someone would come on and post that the person had died.
These instances did raise concern, and caused others who became “close” with these imposters to suffer.
We have had others here do the whole new persona thing, seasoned members at that, and it does lower the trust level we have when these things happen.
February 26, 2013timholzbaur
Yes it does. Trust is hard to gain t begin with, even harder when you’re trying to get it back.
February 26, 2013sharnsgarden
When I get suspecious of someone I start investigating, there has been quite a few people on thoughts that have tugged on our heart strings and two in particular who just went way over the top, the thing that I find interesting is that usually they trip themselves up and disappear. Tim trustyour feelings that’s really the only guide line any of us have.
February 26, 2013sadinne
I hear ya, ya never know…and it is so scary…
February 26, 2013shadowstarz
sadly, two words – attention whores…
February 26, 2013rebecca2013
And sometimes… It isn’t any of those things, sometimes it is a matter of individuals that are mentally lost, who have no sense of self-worth or direction. These people have very little skills in the realm of social interactions and may even be, socially handicapped. One must remember that not everyone out here in the ether of the internet, are scammers, con artists, trolls and the like. Some people are very uncomfortable in social situations, or they have never learned to interact with others in socially appropriate ways or are in such a state of low self-esteem that these behaviors become a mechanism of daily interaction online. When you combine the anonymous nature of a social media site and lot of interactions with many other individuals, the possibilities for creating a fantasy life becomes enormous. This phenomena can be explained as playing a role, as in acting. The person plays a “character” … as exampled; A popular athlete (reality: a couch potato) or a pageant beauty queen (Reality: an ordinary person). These roles played out on the net make the perceived life so much more appealing to someone emotionally damaged, rather than to be genuine, to be true with the inner self. But….Who doesn’t wish they were more popular??? The answer is that a mature, self-actualized, emotionally secure person does not feel any “need to be false”. So many people out in the darkness of the net are not…. Some are trolls sure… scam artists? you bet…Some are actors… some are borderline individuals…. Some fully emotionally damaged and even some psychotic. The net never “cards you” nor requires you to be emotionally “fit”
March 01, 2013Rebecca
timholzbaur
Well put. It’s a side of the argument that hasn’t been heard.
March 01, 2013rebecca2013
thank you… Too many times when we are shown something like these examples that you gave, we are quick to assume “its a scam or a game or a pervert” and in a large amount of the time that is correct… however some cases proves to be actually a very disturbed individual with a lot of emotional baggage using the net to ease emotional pain and to provide insulation between themselves and those they interact with online. They use the net as a buffer so they don’t have to be genuine, being genuine would mean facing their insecurities.
March 01, 2013