Filed under: awareness and causes, daily discoveries, musings & meanderings | Tags: fake friendster accounts, identity theft
My name is Joy Isaguirre and I’ve been a victim of Identity Theft.
A few weeks back, i have noticed that someone opened a Facebook account using my name. Since there was no picture and profile information at the time, i dismissed it (wrong move), thinking it’s best to get on with my life.
Yesterday, as i was going through the perpetrator’s account: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000091552011 (which was recently removed by Facebook, at my request), i found that there are 44 minors connected to the fake Facebook profile. And it did not stop there! The person also opened a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/joyisaguirre) and several Friendster accounts using my name:
http://profiles.friendster.com/101828450
http://profiles.friendster.com/86488412
http://profiles.friendster.com/86005734
http://profiles.friendster.com/85955072
Someone is assuming my identity and the perpetrator is targeting minors on Social Networking sites. This is serious matter. As i was investigating how the thief may have gotten my information online, I noticed a microsite which indicated my name, age, occupation, and other personal information.
These information are easily accessible by anyone on the Internet. Since these information are highly personal in nature and should not be given freely, i immediately emailed and informed someone from the microsite about the matter. I requested that they remove my information or make the page not accessible by the public, as soon as possible.
The reply i received from the microsite was a bit disappointing. Yes, they will help me but i will have to wait until Monday next week before their programmer can remove my information from the microsite.
This incident has caused me a great deal of stress because the person using my identity is targeting minors. Believe me, you don’t want to be a victim of Identity Theft. It will cause you serious $$$ and stress. And yes it could happen to anyone.
So if i were you, i’d be proactive. Do everything you can to protect your identity, before anyone can steal and do some serious damage.
8 Comments so far
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thanks joy for sharing this.
hope that everything is okay from your end.
will check out the cyberspace for any activities using your name.
Comment by Azrael September 12, 2009 @ 1:52 am@ azrael – thank you so much for taking the time to help me. God bless. yes, please spread the word!
Comment by joy September 12, 2009 @ 1:56 amIt’s good that you discovered it early.
Thanks for the heads up and we’ll be extra careful too.
Comment by LetsGoSago.net September 12, 2009 @ 1:58 am@ jonel – no biggie. thanks for the help, too! God bless you.
Comment by joy September 12, 2009 @ 2:34 amThank you for sharing this. I pray you will solve this prob as soon as possible. May peace reign.
When I google searched my name there are also people named Edith Abalos. I’m not sure if we just have the same name or if it’s identity.
Thanks for the post. I’ll be careful too.
Comment by Edith September 18, 2009 @ 3:48 am@ edith – thanks for the prayer.
Comment by pinkmonster September 19, 2009 @ 3:20 amHi, Joy. I would like to ask your permission if I could repost this entry to our blog at exodians.wordpress.com?
Salamat in advance.
Comment by darbs October 6, 2009 @ 12:40 pm@ darbs – sure, go ahead. kindly drop me a note once the entry is up. thanks!
Comment by joy October 7, 2009 @ 7:35 am