Meta Universe Pretenders

Catching a troll ...

I had an interesting adventure with a troll on Facebook Messenger the other night. You might find it interesting and you should recall this story when someone approaches you on Facebook, Messenger or other social media and pretends to be a friend you know. You should always confirm that the person is who they claim to be. Often as not it may be a pretender or troll in the Meta Universe.

I have a friend, let's just say her name is "Jane Doe". At 7:09pm we get a Messenger beep and notification on several of our devices, "Jane Doe wants to communicate with you". It's a user on Instagram (userid 'sijabiw163'), another part of the Facebook/Meta Universe, who has been recently created and has appropriated Jane's picture from Facebook. In her message to me she writes:

Hello
How are you doing

I am immediately suspicious, Jane and I don't talk that often and when we do it's never this kind of idle small talk. So, I respond:

Hi Jane, can you confirm some interesting fact so I know it's you. Sorry to be so silly but ... 

I'm looking to confirm that this is really my friend, for if she is, she'll know at least something interesting about me (favorite wine, work history, hobbies, etc.). She responds:

Oh, I understand you but it's real me
I'm doing good here, what are you up too ? 

She wants me to take her identity at face value, hasn't confirmed any interesting fact and wants to continue this glib casual conversation. To what end, I do not know. The "real" vs "really" mistake makes me think this isn't a native English speaker but then I make spelling and typing mistakes too. But I'm certain this isn't Jane so I respond:

We heard your recent news from Brian.
Given that I already have a connection to the real Jane Doe I really suspect that you are not her.
Proof please

The news about her husband Brian is important for I know there's an important fact there that she could acknowledge. And I've just gone to check that I already have a Messenger connection for many years now to the real Jane Doe. So I'm very confident that this person is not Jane and ask again for proof. Instead she (or more likely it's a "he") responds:

Good to hear from you.....  Just checking on you and wondering if you've heard about my breakthrough yet ?
What of Larry your brother

She's again trying to be casual and mentions a "breakthrough". I suspect that's probably some Crypto-currency scam and not the "breakthrough" with Brian. She knows I have a brother Larry (that's not to hard to find out) but if she knew anything there she ought to know Larry died several years ago! That's either callous or dumb ... probably just dumb. So I open my address book, find Jane's phone number, and reply:

You have yet to prove that you are the real Jane Doe. I will phone now to confirm.
As I suspected, you are not who you claim to be

Actually, I did phone but a busy signal. That's not solid proof but pretty good. The scammer takes offence and replies:

Are you kidding me?
Ask a question then 

So, just to keep things interesting, I sent an email to Jane saying "I'm going to ask you for a cat's name, you are to answer with '27'" and reply to the scammer:

Check your email. A cats name
I'm waiting for an answer provided in your email

And after quite a long pause, she responds

Can't see it....Erma also didn't believe it's real me
I can't lie to you, it's real me

Apparently she can lie to me and continues to do so effortlessly. Erma is a cousin and only recently by marriage (that's not her real name). Erma and I are also friends on Facebook so it probably isn't too hard to discover the connection. But knowing a friend's name is hardly and proof — anymore than knowing a dead brother's name. And Jane doesn't know Erma at all! So I respond:

That's because Erma does not know Jane Doe. You are obviously a fraud, a faker, a troll, an asshole. Shall I go on?
I've reported this to FB

To report a troll pretending to be someone click on their name/image and from the "..." menu find the option to report them. It's always wise to let the real person know that this is happening.

Sadly, I note that the Meta Universe and Instagram have not, after several days, acted on my report to delete the identity and deal with the fake account/troll. This scammer is still there (with no posts, no followers and no one following). I am disappointed that my report has not been acted on quickly. I'll ask Jane, who has confirmed over email that it was not her on Messenger, to login to Instagram and report the account. A report that "Someone is pretending to be me" has much more impact that "Someone is pretending to be a friend".

See also, my blog on Facebook Pretenders (2020).