Identity Theft is REAL!
A hacker is raising money under the pretense of another person! Here is her REAL story to date (N.B. some personal details have been left out).
“I had just travelled home from Turkey when I started having some problems with my twitter account. Because I changed location it asked for verification from my phone number, however my number was unable to receive sms’s at the time and so it was difficult to complete the verification. Next time I checked my account a few weeks later, it was suspended. Now I can’t tell if it was because of the delayed verification that my account was suspended or if it was due to tampering from this stranger.
However, my younger brother was getting married (one of the reasons I was home), and I was too busy to worry about twitter at the time. I was at the wedding two weeks later when a friend texted me, to confirm that that was my picture she was seeing attached to a weird twitter account. I asked her to send me the details and she took a screenshot of this message that was saying, “I’m a single mum of 3, I have been really struggling financially, behind in rent payments and so many bills. Asking for help here is kinda last resort. All help is appreciated.”
I was in complete shock, because I could see my pictures, pictures I had uploaded on Instagram years ago and perhaps even twitter. However, I couldn’t confirm they were from twitter because immediately I checked my twitter account – it was at this point that I realized - it had been suspended. I am single and have no kids, have never solicited for funds in this manner, especially for my rent. I also do not live anywhere near the US like this person claims they do. It was a total out of body experience, especially when I noticed so many people had retweeted this tweet. Some were commenting things like, “get a job, why would you beg, nobody asked you to have three kids” and so on. I was also horrified much later after the wedding and I had gotten home, to realise that this GoFundMe page actually existed, also with my photos, and this person had raised over $1,000 from unsuspecting donors.
I reported to twitter who said they couldn’t do a thing as the account used was not in my name so there was no evidence of fraud. Perhaps my account being suspended played a part in their shallow investigation. I also reported to the GoFundMe website and I haven’t received any helpful response there either. That was why I proceeded to make posts on my facebook and Instagram to at least inform my friends and followers who could also help report and spread the word of this impersonation.
I hope something can be done to protect me and any other person that could fall prey to these kinds of scammers, especially in this age of the internet and social media.
Thank you very much.”
P.s. Please share so that everyone can know the threats that exist in the digital space.
