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I'm being impersonated?

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by Kidd, Oct 3, 2011.

  1. Kidd

    Kidd Guest

    About a month ago this total creep messaged me on Facebook, came out to me as bisexual, and then he asked to fuck me, basically. I was freaked out and offended for obvious reasons so I blocked him, and then when I told my best friend about it she told him to stay away from me or she would come after him when he came through the Burger King drive-through one night. I thought that would be the end of it. He acted like he didn't know what she was talking about and sped away.

    Then, my brother told me that this person is now impersonating us. I'm from a small town and we're somewhat well-known as the only out gay brothers. He's texting guys and asking them for pictures, but he's pretending to be me and my brother. This isn't the first time he's done something like this either. A few years ago he texted my aforementioned best friend pretending to be a girl we know named Brittany, and he was asking her crazy questions like whether she tans naked or not, perverted questions..

    I don't know what to do about it, but I'm freaking pissed. I think most people know that my brother and I aren't like that and we made this known on Facebook but still...
     
  2. ukeye

    ukeye Guest

    Its time to call the police and tell them.. try and get some evidence and a witness to substantiate it. You don't have to put up with that crap.. You could get a restraining order, but i really know nothing about that.. but its a very common thing here, called an AVO aggrated violence order thingo (I think).. women take them out all the time, might be enough to scare him off.. or at least give you protection. Really not something you should let slide, need to pounce on it immediately.
     
  3. maverick

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    I agree with Ukeye, you need to get the police involved if you've got evidence that he's doing this. Identity theft is against the law for a reason.
     
  4. Chip

    Board Member Admin Team Advisor Full Member

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    In the immediate, if you can identify the profiles he's using to impersonate you, you can get the photos of you removed. IF you try and do it through any site's normal channels, it can take weeks or get ignored completely, but if you submit a copyright infringement claim against the photos the imposter is using, the site (Facebook or whomever) MUST remove them within 48 hours or they become liable for copyright infringement. I've used this many times to get fake profiles taken down for friends.

    If you want to do this, PM me and I'll send you a boilerplate DMCA notice you can fill in and send to whatever services he's posted your pics with.

    I would also advise contacting the police as well.
     
  5. Revan

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    I do believe that this is now a police matter...
     
  6. Mad Man L

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    It's time to pick up the phone (or whatever) and call the police. That's downright disturbing. Imitating someone for a night may be a funny practical joke, but it's obvious that he's stepped so far over the line, that if the line was on the earth at the equator, he's almost crossed it again.
     
  7. Kidd

    Kidd Guest

    I just wanted to update you guys I guess. I was so upset about it last night that I only got about an hour of sleep, if that. I took your advice, and right after class I pulled my law professor aside, he's my student adviser too, and I told him what happened and he agreed to write a cease and desist letter for me and he agreed to help me, so we'll see what happens. I feel so violated though.
     
  8. Chip

    Board Member Admin Team Advisor Full Member

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    I'm so sorry you're having to experience that, and I can totally understand the sense of violation. I hope you get resolution soon.

    If you're trying to get whatever site it is to take down the pics, a cease-and-desist won't do it nearly as quickly. That gets shunted to customer service and can take weeks for action. The DMCA goes straight to their DMCA department, because they have immediate legal liability if they don't act within 72 hours. There's no such penalty with a cease-and-desist.

    I do think the C&D is useful to scare the creep who's impersonating you, so you should do that for sure, but the DMCA will be quicker if the main goal is to get the pics down.