Munchausen syndrome by internet

gunsandbanjos

scooby088 wrote: »

I once thought about having a alternate username was thinking I could have a conversation with myself on here. I am sure some long time posters who use an alternate often contribute to a thread they have started.

Not munchausens but along these lines I'm a member of a forum dedicated to high end designer clothing/accessories. One new member posted that she had bought a Chanel handbag and it arrived with the box damaged and the bag missing. She went on to go through the whole process of asking how to claim her money back from the postal services etc.

Turns out she was actually planning to do this, it hadn't actually happened yet she was wanting to know if it was possible to get away with it. She was a total scam artist who wanted to keep the $5000 handbag and get the money back from the seller. She was a regular poster using an AE and was contributing to the thread under her regular name too.

It was all found out because the seller of the Chanel was actually a member of the same forum, when she posted that someone had pulled this scam on her other posters put 2+2 together! She had done it many times before:mad: Turned out she had loads of IDs on the forum and was continually replying to her own threads using different IDs.

FatVonD

On the music forum I mentioned earlier I had a falling out with another member and then somebody who was supposed to be his friend in real life (who he'd been bantering with for weeks on there) started posting abusive posts directed at me (the forum was unmoderated.) Most people believed him to be real as both his and the person I'd fallen out with's persona were very popular with some of the ladies. He'd purported to work for one of the newspapers and told us what his real name supposedly was so I rang the newspaper to check if he existed (he didn't.) Since the other bloke had vouched for knowing someone that didn't exist in real life it could only have been him so he'd been bantering with himself?!

barbarawright

I post on a a forum where a banned member set up a rival forum which consisted of him talking to himself (there may have been one or two genuine members but no more) and masses and masses of posts copied from the original forum. It must have taken him hours a day and went on for years. Completely bizarre.

Housework*Fairy

I used to post on a parenting website (I don't think it exists any more) and that was where I discovered my first troll. She called herself Emma Bowyer and was very convincing however she was eventually uncovered although I am not sure whether her true identity was ever discovered.

carolan78

gunsandbanjos wrote: »

Not munchausens but along these lines I'm a member of a forum dedicated to high end designer clothing/accessories. One new member posted that she had bought a Chanel handbag and it arrived with the box damaged and the bag missing. She went on to go through the whole process of asking how to claim her money back from the postal services etc.

Turns out she was actually planning to do this, it hadn't actually happened yet she was wanting to know if it was possible to get away with it. She was a total scam artist who wanted to keep the $5000 handbag and get the money back from the seller. She was a regular poster using an AE and was contributing to the thread under her regular name too.

It was all found out because the seller of the Chanel was actually a member of the same forum, when she posted that someone had pulled this scam on her other posters put 2+2 together! She had done it many times before:mad: Turned out she had loads of IDs on the forum and was continually replying to her own threads using different IDs.

Did they find out due to the same ip address for each account? I run a forum for my hobby and although it isn't really the type of thing that would bring this type of poster in we have had our fair share of cranks. I think all forum should have a script running to highlight multiple ip uses. Then if any mods or admin have a spare 5 or 10 minutes they can have a quick check everything seems to be in order.

Would possibly be a nightmare to do on one this size but under a thousands active members which most forums are it shouldn't be too difficult and would cut a lot of these issues out.

carolan78

Housework*Fairy wrote: »

I used to post on a parenting website (I don't think it exists any more) and that was where I discovered my first troll. She called herself Emma Bowyer and was very convincing however she was eventually uncovered although I am not sure whether her true identity was ever discovered.

I googled this because it rang a bell from a parenting forum I once used, seems this name is used quite a bit to troll parenting forums http://www.ukparentslounge.com/Features-Why-do-people-fake-it-online-1216.php

littlestar1981

Funnily enough, here's another current story of a similar thing on this years America's Got Talent. Watching the video knowing it is a hoax is quite chilling...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2156482/Americas-Got-Talent-fraud-Timothy-Poe-receives-death-threats--future-competition-hangs-balance.html

gunsandbanjos

carolan78 wrote: »

Did they find out due to the same ip address for each account? I run a forum for my hobby and although it isn't really the type of thing that would bring this type of poster in we have had our fair share of cranks. I think all forum should have a script running to highlight multiple ip uses. Then if any mods or admin have a spare 5 or 10 minutes they can have a quick check everything seems to be in order.

Would possibly be a nightmare to do on one this size but under a thousands active members which most forums are it shouldn't be too difficult and would cut a lot of these issues out.

I believe so, the thread got really long and messy and we never got to know the outcome as it got legal!

The forum I use is HUGE, it's also international with the majority in America I think, so a nightmare all round in cases like this.

gunsandbanjos

Just checked and current active users is over 4000 and over 350 000 registered users.

kj*daisy

carolan78 wrote: »

I googled this because it rang a bell from a parenting forum I once used, seems this name is used quite a bit to troll parenting forums http://www.ukparentslounge.com/Features-Why-do-people-fake-it-online-1216.php

I posted on those websites and remember this, made everyone very suspicious of people who were genuinely going through tough times IIRC.