Thursday, December 12, 2013

Wow! Never thought it'd happen to me...

I've often heard stories, some were even horror stories, about people having their identity stolen. It must be hell to say the least.  The thought of someone not only pretending to be me, but to steal from me makes me mad.

Back in school, I used to hate cheaters.  There was always that one person who would manage to steal something and not get caught.  My last year of high school, someone stole my Yearbook right out of my locker.  I was so upset about it, all those signatures and little notes people had left in there, for me, were gone.  It wasn't the book as such as the memories.

I manage a page on Bacefook for those of us who graduated from the same school.  People have to request access to it.  There isn't much activity on it.  Today I had two requests to joined.  Imagine my surprise when I saw my face as the picture of one of the asking person.  I checked out her profile, and there wasn't much in there.  I did try to report it to Bacefook, but in order to do so I had to leave my cell phone number.  That is just plain weird, and felt too scam-my for me, so I simply blocked this person.

I've read many posts about how Bacefook is changing and how their security isn't worth much.  My first reaction was to deactivate my account, but since I do enjoy (after all it is a way for many of us to keep in touch with each other), and mostly enjoy (way too much) the games I play on there, I've decided against it.

I still feel somewhat strange thinking about this other person who took a (recent) picture of mine as their own profile picture.  If I was a famous person I think I would get it.  Artists must be used to seeing themselves everywhere.  It is fairly common to use an artist photo as an avatar or such, but a picture from someone's personal life, as your own, that is just plain weird...

I can't even imagine how parents feel when they see pictures of their kids on someone's else
page, that must be quite upsetting (and I'm not even talking about the sexual perverts out, just the regular, clean stuff).  I know they say imitation is a form of flattery, but I'm sorry I just find it creepy!

It is just plain weird.  And scary.  I guess it is not THAT scary since I won't be deleting my Bacefook page just yet (sorry, I'm having too much fun still), but I will say that it did/does give me the creeps... argh...

I will revisit my albums and make sure all my pictures are only shared with friends.  I will remove stuff that could lead someone to think or act a certain way (I've been very careful of that); I don't share personal information (about the same as I do here) in details, I keep it light...

To think that someone would take my picture as their own profile picture, tells me that this person is pretty... desperate!  



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