My friend once phoned me up saying that she urgently needed to talk to me. She asked me whether I had facebook but I didn't have facebook at the time. She also said that there was a profile picture of me online and that I've been sending weird messages when I know this isn't true. Even one of my friends has said I've been mean to her online. However what I want to know is,how this is happening and how is it possible as I don't give my email or password out to people. Can you help?
Sam
Hello there,
Thank you for your letter. You say that your picture has been used for a fake Facebook profile and that its been used to send mean messages to your friend. Its understandable that youre feeling upset about this. I can hear that youre wondering how this could have happened. Youve said the fake account was set up before you had an account on Facebook yourself, so it sounds like it was created without using any of your password details or email information.
Sounds like your friends also thought something strange was going on and thought it important to tell you. Just to reassure you, you are not to blame for someone else choosing to pretend to be you, it can happen to anyone and it often does!
Its totally wrong for someone to pretend to be someone else on the internet. No-one has the right to do this, even if it was meant as a joke. There are things you can do to try and get the fake profile removed.
You can report the fake account directly to Facebook by clicking on this link. They will want to some ID that will prove who you are, so you might want to think about asking a parent or carer to help you out. It is worth letting Facebook know that you now have a genuine Facebook account and that you set this up after you discovered the fake one. It might also be a good idea to let all your friends know that someone is pretending to be you, and warn them all to block her.
Childline takes online safety very seriously and there are lots of ways that you can keep yourself safer whilst online. There is lots of useful information on the social networking pages in Explore. The ThinkUKnow website is another excellent place to look for advice about online safety.
Childline is here to support you at anytime and you might find it helpful to talk through your feelings and what you might like to do next with a Childline Counsellor. You can get in touch by calling 0800 11 11 for free or by logging in for a 1-2-1 chat on the website.
Take care for now,
Sam
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