Munchausen syndrome by internet

gunsandbanjos

http://forum.purseblog.com/ebay-forum/4k-chanel-bag-sold-buyer-claims-empty-box-605377.html

If anyone has some time to kill this is the thread I was referring to. Though I though it was 5K it was 4K, still a heck of a lot of money though.

bestpud

I've just been looking at the Emma Bowyer story - what a web of deceit that woman created! :eek:

Not health related as such, but we had a couple of suspect threads on here after Martin posted about helpful MSE'ers sending things to members who had hit hard times!

One came quite soon after and people were actually sending cash and other items to help out this woman and her 'starving children'! When questioned, there was gaps in the story but those of us who voiced our concerns were shot down in flames! Unsurprisingly, this person disappeared and didn't want to meet a member who lived nearby and was happy to hand over a bag of shopping.

A while after we had another one who, I think, was almost certainly the same person and suspicions were raised when people checked out what they had said about food banks in their area! But still people were prepared to send cash and goods!

I also recall the slating received when a few of us saw through AndyandFlo's suicide!

So long as there is gullible people, there will be con artists and trolls.

I understand people want to give the benefit of the doubt, but they really need to be wary once others raise suspicions because there isn't often smoke without fire.

shegirl

I've seen some pretty bad ones.On the parenting forum I used to use there was one woman who played her poor sob story out so well that a mod actually gave her loads of baby items and food among other things and,from what I heard,it cost her money too.The woman was a complete fake with no problems who made herself a nice litle profit.Don't know the full details as it was before I joined buy it was something never forgotten on there and was frequently mentioned when others were being offered help.

One I did witness myself was a long standing member suddenly losing everything along with deciding she was one of those who had lost out by that hamper company going into administration.People were sending allsorts to those who'd lost their Christmas vouchers due to it.This member played allsorts of extras onto her 'horrible' situation and when asked what kind of things to send for her kids for Christmas she gave a huge list of items that would need to be bought and were rather pricey,considering!the genuine ones were happy with people sending small things they already had or cheap little bits and mini food hampers and didn't even ask-most wouldn't accept anything.But she was begging and giving mighty lists!!!

I know of one person who posts varying attention seeking stories on various forums,constantly adding to the drama.I'm not sure if this person does it purely because they like attention or because they're so unstable they end up believing themselves-it's quite an unusual one!The fact they constantly ask on their posts if the other members believe them shows there's something at play there.Apparently this person is quite unstable in real life too.

One of the worst I've seen created quite a but of havoc.Again,this one was on the parenting forum I used to use and she was a long standing popular member.She had had issues which most where aware of and a close friend on the forum.She fell out with this friend and claimed it had pushed her over the edge,she couldn't take anymore and had taken many pills and alcohol while her kids were present and done a good job of playing out her suicide attempt and goodbye to us and her friend.Luckily (turns out it was lucky in another way) a few of us were on late that night and saw her posts,knew the friend and managed to get her details.Someone managed to get help sent round to her only for her to then post having a go at everyone for the police turning up -the whole thing was fake to 'get back at' her friend and make her feel awful and guilty.

I am very wary on forums and haven't used any but this one for a few years because so much goes on.The parenting forums seem to be the worst for attracting such behaviour-from 'ill' or deceased children,to having no money or home for the kids to abuse and suicides/deaths.I seem to recall a suicidal poster whose fianc! and uncle joined the forum to inform us of her death-both posting in exactly the same style as her.

I have some real life friends I adore that I met from the old forum but I try to keep my distance from many others and won't get drawn in,not only due to the above but, because there was one other who became a real life friend who carried the stories and much more into real life and turned out to be a fake,manipulative moneygrabber.

bestpud

I can't recall the full story but there was one on UK parents lounge years ago who convinced the site owner to make her a moderator and he even banned regular members when they tried to alert others to this woman's game. It was not long after the original UK parents owner sold the site and it was renamed.

I can't remember her username but that and her profile pic led to people calling her Mrs Bucket.

People were posting to say they knew her in RL and she was legit etc but she was a complete fake. I think 'she' may even have been a 'he' but I can't remember now.

FATBALLZ

littlestar1981 wrote: »

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

The whole 'Got Talent'/X Factor thing winds me up for this exact reason, and in some ways you can't blame this guy because the whole show is set up to encourage and egg on this sort of behaviour. Quite frankly the general public are just as much to blame given the preference they give to acts with a good sob story behind them.

You can only imagine the application forms for these shows go something like:

1. What is your name:
2. What is your act:
3. Please detail your sob story over the following 7 pages:

Johnmcl7

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.

Such scripts exist but the problem I find even on a small forum is that due to ISPs using dynamic IP addresses as wells as businesses and colleges/universities appearing as the same IP address it led to a lot of false hits. At one point there were two posters on the forum who supposedly knew each other off the forum (one had invited the other to join) but I became increasingly convinced it was the same person posting under the two accounts as the posting styles were similar and both seemed to look for attention, at times having long arguments with each other. I thought I had caught them out when both accounts were showing as coming from the same IP address but both were adamant to prove they were different individuals and sent me proof. It turned out the same IP address was because they both went to the same college.

I guess at time truth is stranger than fiction although clearly there are plenty of cases where it isn't. I find the girl in the original article really quite disturbing, I just can't believe someone would spend so much time and think up all these horrible things that supposedly happened to the fake family.

John

jellyhead

Dunroamin wrote: »

Don't forget the resident BB troll, andy&flo who faked an online nervous breakdown and the next day his "daughter" posted to say he'd committed suicide!

Still around under a variety of AEs having had numerous PPRs. potting him's become something of a spectator sport!

you only joined this year, are you sure it's not you?

carolan78

Usually I have found if the ip's are for an institution such as a uni or college they resolve to something with the institutions name in it. I always use various other information such as email address (look for facebook accounts ect) on any ip addresses that are thrown up.

We haven't had anyone using the multiple id's in the 5 years we've run the forum but we have lots of other issues with posters. Due to spam accounts we also check out the ip and email addy before we accept the account anyway so maybe this is why we haven't had the two id issue. Now if only we could stop some members sleeping with other members wives as easily hehe

jamtart6

Can't believe no one has mentioned student_phil ! Although not malicious, he was too unbelievable to be real!

jellyhead

I believed in him!