Fake Facebook account

I'm going through hell at the moment. Someone has created a fake Facebook account under my name and uploaded some photo's, personal information on it. It's ruining my reputation.

I don't have a Facebook never had one. That's probably the reason why this person claiming to be me has created one. Cause I always had a lot of criticism about Facebook.

Seems like the only way to remove this profile is to send a copy of my ID to Facebook. Of course I don't want to send it to them, but on the other hand I just want that profile to be removed as quick as possible.

Anyone have any experience with this, I really need a piece of advice.
Thanks in advance.

 

FWIW, a quick search turns up:

How do I report a fake account that's pretending to be me? - Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=174210519303259

as well as related hits at other websites. Perhaps you have read those already. I haven't thought through such a scenario (though I've sometimes wondered about it), but I have some additional thoughts ATM. If you have friends on Facebook, perhaps they too could report the profile as a forgery if need be and/or attempt to gather additional information from, and to be used against, the imposter. If the imposter has posted pictures of you that would open the door for you to do (if you were willing) something like send in a picture of yourself holding a sign saying "My facebook profile is not XYZ". If they've posted information that could be correlated with information on a photo ID and Facebook demands that you send them a copy (ugh!), you could try sending something with the otherwise unnecessary information blacked out. For example, if the profile says you are <fairly unique name><residing in Alabama, USA> you could black out drivers license number, any barcode, street address and city, etc leaving only your name and Alabama, USA visible. If you can't find a way forward that you are satisfied with you could discuss the situation with an attorney who is privacy oriented. There are some situations where an entity that, per its own protocols, wants "proof" of something but is willing to settle for an attorney attesting to the something on behalf of their client. Perhaps where that happens they just don't want to run up legal bills

Best of luck.

 

BTW, as you attempt to and if you do succeed in gaining control over this imposter profile, I would suggest you attempt to gather all records from Facebook which would reveal information about the imposter or extent of the damage so to speak. Including, for example, IP Addresses used to access the profile, email addresses or phone numbers used during registration, messages sent to and/or received from others, etc. You want Facebook to preserve those records and you want a full copy. Later you want them fully purged or at least fully disassociated with your name.

 

Without giving your own ID, why don't you ask Facebook to demand ID from the imposter.

I don't see that you have an obligation to Facebook, after all, you are the victim.

I do see that Facebook has a duty to perform due diligence on false, injurious information that it posts, especially after given notice.

 

Thanks all for your input, i really appriciate it.

I decided to go to the police in my country and make a statement. But there's not much that they can do. They only start an investigation if the profile leads to fraud, forgery or stalking. At the moment this is not the case (I think), I have to collect proof for that. Tried to find ways to contact Facebook by mail or phone, but I'm not able to find anything related.

 

I think it's a disgrace that Facebook make it so easy to create a fake profile yet make it impossible for the genuine person to take it down. I guess it's part of many privacy issues that they have.

 

Correct me if im wrong but dont you need a valid email account to create a facebook one.
So maybe the email account needs looking at also.

 

I have looked on Facebook with an unverified email account but you won't be able to log in again but I guess you can do a lot in one session.

 

Its not hard to create a blag email....

 

Let me get this straight. You went to the police over a fake facebook profile?

You take yourself way too seriously, you should of just laughed it off instead you look like a cry baby.

 

The simplest solution is the most obvious. To create a real FB account, just to use it as an email, so something like that could never ever happen again.
Avoiding FB, while actually having real friends, is a fight you can not win. Either get rid of friends or get used to having a FB account. Why? You answered.

 

Trust me I do, I really do. But in this case with the facts this guy has given I think it's obvious that the perpetrator is getting the reaction he wants.

OP why didn't you just fax your details to facebook?

 

Is it illegal to create a "fake" facebook account or webpage pretending to be someone you are not?

What if someone living in Nigeria creates a website called [yourfullname].com and posts information and photos of you they've found on the web along with rants damaging to your reputation? Would you really be able to do anything about it?

fwiw, I have both a real and a "fake" facebook account. The fake one doesn't pretend to be anyone in particular - it just doesn't have my real info on it. I use it to watch some sports events on facebook and stuff like that which requires a facebook account when I don't want to give them my real ID.

 

I changed my mind about Facebook very recently. Not that I plan to actually use the service, but I think it's a good idea to nail down your name and then lock everything down except your name and city to be seen publicly. Technically, you've done nothing but protect yourself from the problems the OP is having. Which, by the way, I agree is a very serious thing to have happen. I wish them the best of luck.

 

If you have nothing to do with the Mafia, then they generally don't bother you. But ask for a favor, borrow money, whatever, you're on the list for good. If there's something they need, they're not shy to ask.

Before you open a facebook account, even fakely IDed, you should research a bit about what they do now that you're one of theirs.

A far more sophisticated picture of who you really are:

e.g. http://www.wired.com/business/2013/...-search-facebooks-weapon-to-challenge-google/

"Nothing to see here, folks. You have lots of privacy settings that do ........ ..... something."

 

It doesn't take the mafia to end up on the wrong side of a fake Facebook account. It takes a flaky ex boyfriend/girlfriend, an envious co-worker, a disgruntled employee, a jealous ex-spouse...all kinds of possibilities. I don't like Facebook - would never "use" them, but I see no harm in a basic profile with zero information to the public except your name and city. That would thwart most anyone from creating a duplicate and "pretending" to be you.

 

People should understand that there is nothing on Facebook (or other online service providers) that will somehow find out more about them than they already disclosed. What Facebook (and others) do is to try to correlate the information about you and your friends. So just be careful about what you share online, and it will be OK; just like LockBox said, if you will enter only basic details, and you lock down your privacy settings, neither Facebook nor others will know more than your name and maybe a city, and there is nothing that they can do to find out more.

 

I just found this thread and am confused by something.

Several of you have suggested that it's a good idea to create a Facebook account in your own name to prevent other people from creating a fake one in your name. But how does that work? That person could claim that they are the real me and that I'm the imposter. Then I would be in a very similar situation as the OP.

I created my Facebook account in 2011 using a newly created free email account to be used solely with Facebook. I verified the Facebook account through that email account. But there's no way for Facebook to verify that I am who I say I am. Or at least that's how it worked for me in 2011. I used a new email account to prevent people from looking up my Facebook account with my real/primary email. This way I have more privacy. I've had no issues with using that free email account, so far. I don't even have my cell phone number or any other personal information that would identify me as being the real me attached to the Facebook account. So that essentially means that anyone could create a Facebook account in my name and pose as me. How is Facebook supposed to know which account is legitimate?

I could basically create a Facebook account and pose as anyone I want to. I could do all sorts of nasty horrible things to all sorts of people.

So I'm not really understanding why people should create a Facebook account in order to protect themselves from fake ones. I must be misunderstanding something. Right?

 

Right. There are very many "John Smith" accounts, for example

 

There are now multiple security and name validation/confirmation settings. They are specific to each account - not specific to name. So, if you have a locked down account and Facebook has the information on you being the "you" someone might be impersonating only YOU can confirm those details. I honestly think this is safer than not having a presence and opening yourself up to identity theft and such as described by the OP. I'm not for actually using the service, I want to make that clear.

If someone starts saying they're the "Jim Smith" that works at "XYZ" and lives at "123 Main" and that's really YOU......Facebook can terminate that fake account quickly with the details you provided upfront. Without that - you're on your own.

 

I seem to remember Facebook asking for a phone number, then calling with a code to type in to verify the account to actually start it as active

 

the idea is that when someone on facebook (someone you know) searches for you by name, they see your real account and any fake accounts or accounts of people by the same name (but different photo). if they see multiple accounts with your name and photo, then they should hopefully assume the ones damaging to your reputation are the fake ones. it's not perfect protection, but it's better than people just finding one FB account with your name/photo and assuming that's you if it's not.

fwiw, i've heard of stories of semi-celebrities being imitated on FB and twitter because they weren't fast enough to register accounts in their name, so they registered accounts with 'names' like 'TheRealJohnSmith' (or the real whatever your name is) and made the best of it.

 

Quick update guys:

I found the person who was responsable for this, it was an old 'friend' of mine. After a quick talk he removed the profile.

I'm now considering to make a locked-down account like you guys suggested, just not sure of it yet. Going to think about that in the upcoming days. I'm just feeling relieved atm.

 

Excellent! Has your "friend" fallen down a flight of stairs yet?