SO yesterday I got a message via Facebook from a friend of mine to tell me that someone was using my profile pic as theirs.
The person, who set up the fake account under the name ‘Catherine Ruff’, had sent him a friend request. When I looked them up I couldn’t find them, so using my amateur detective knowledge, I gathered they had taken my picture and then blocked me.
My friend sent me a screenshot and lo and behold there was my face being used as theirs.
It is beyond me why they would choose my picture as, let’s face it, I am not exactly model material.
I laughed at it at first but then it got me thinking why or for what reason would they chose me?
Those of you who are my friend on Facebook would have seen my post warning not to accept a friend request from the account as I haven’t a clue who they are or why they thought it was a good idea to use my face.
Social media is a wonderful tool to connect with friends all over the world and to keep up to date with each other’s lives but this incident reminded me there is another side.
We have all seen the fake profiles and fake pages that are quickly followed with a message that if you send your bank details that said person or page would like to deposit a few million to your account.
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I often wonder has anybody ever given their details, I would gladly give mine if they would take on my overdraft!
Another one of the big downsides of social media is the freaks out there that gratify their twisted desires such as paedophiles. They search pages for innocent photos of children.
There was programme on Channel 4 recently and it made for very frightening viewing. The reporter interviewed convicted paedophiles and they gave an insight on how easy it was to gain information such as the age of the child and in most cases where they went to school and where they lived.
Scary, right? So how do you combat this? The advice given was at all times turn the location off on your device so your location is unknown and to never photograph your child with their school uniform crest as this was one of the easiest ways to determine where your child is at school. It is disgusting that these sick individuals prey on our most vulnerable.
The Internet can be a scary place and as it is part of our everyday lives now it is better to be safe than sorry. I for one will be doing a clear out of my online friends.
Nothing beats the real thing of meeting up with friends or spending time on the phone chatting and laughing.
Until next week,
Be internet savvy!
Orlagh xx