Hello,
Someone has posted some pretty horrible and untrue things about me and my family online in the forum section of a couple of websites. They even opened up a profile under my name and posted a note. I have no idea who or why this is happening. I want to know if there is anything that I can do to have these notes deleted and if I have any legal rights to back me up. This is very upsetting because my young children are also listed and I'm pretty freaked out about this. Any info is greatly appreciated.
You need to call the police because that is email fraud and a very serious offense! They will track down very easily who is doing it and put a stop to it! There are tons of lawyers who would just love to take on a case like that! The police need to be involved S.!
Here are some useful links:
http://www.ftc.gov/
http://info.yahoo.com/safely/us/yahoo/360/
http://www.huntonprivacyblog.com/tags/internet-impersonat...
http://www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/features/internet-fr...
http://www.cafeaspira.com/
http://teenadvice.about.com/od/schoolviolence/a/cyberbull...
This is called cyber-fraud and cyber-bullying. Not to mention harassment... perhaps, stalking.
It is illegal. But it appears that it is hard to 'stop' and the laws are still being enacted to combat these 'crimes.'
I would contact your local police department and file a complaint/file charges. Or see what you can do about it.
In my area... they have a department which targets these kinds of activity.
I have read MANY articles about problems such as this... you NEED to do something about it. It is fraud. So treat it as such.
*AND THE KEY THING IS...IT INVOLVES UNDER-AGE CHILDREN, MINORS....so this further exacerbates the problem and makes it illegal.
Really, as the others said, contact the Web owner, file a complaint... follow-up. Be AGGRESSIVE about it, and about ending it, and apprehending the person.
ALSO, on your end, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING... you have to build up a case for yourself/your family.
I would contact your police department and ask them what you can do. Remember... the more you do, the more action can be taken.
Do NOT let this alone. You HAVE TO do something about it...before it escalates further.
Take care,
Susan
You also need to contact Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc. and let them know of this defaming activity. Let them know there are children involved. This will get their attention pretty quickly. Good luck.
Wow, that is really awful. I know this sounds weird but you might want to check your homeowners insurance. Some of them have a provision that covers identity theft and libel. Since they opened a profile under your name I wonder if that it would be covered. Also, if the claims are untrue that is slander and again, you may be covered. If it is, and you're covered they'd help you fight it. Other than that you might want to track down who it is that's running the forums etc and see if there is any help. Make sure they know that minors are involved. Other than that I'd track down an attorney who specializes in internet issues.
I hate to sound presumptious but have you asked your husband why he thinks this is happening? Sounds to me like someone is super angry and looking for revenge. Maybe he has an idea? Could be work related?
Best of luck.
Take them to court and sue for libel if what they are saying is not true. Not sure what else you can do. Just make sure you don't post anything about them back.
Hi S.,
I'm not sure how much the laws have caught up with this type of activity yet, but as you research this, here are a couple of suggestions.
1. Print/save everything - postings, and website policies, including the user agreement when signing up for an account, or the site's policies on postings, membership, fraud, and privacy policy. Remember, policies can change, and content can be added/changed/deleted at any time, so make sure to print out evidence of it while it exists.
2. Contact the sites to let them know that someone has fraudulently set up an account under your name.
It will require a subpoena to the site to find the identity of the poster.
I'd recommend starting with the police to see what they can do and if they have any guidance about the laws. If they are not too helpful, don't get discouraged, just keep asking questions about the law and where you can go for help with this. The reason I recommend starting there is because attorneys are so expensive, and better to start with police if they can help, and perhaps give you some free information.
Take care,
M.
what you need to do is find the link to write the person who made the site. explaine that this person is is being offensive and writing bogus things about you and your family. also tell them that you do not know this person at all and what do they suggest that you do about it. good luck.
Lots of good advice here. The one thing I would NOT recommend is directly contacting the person who is doing these postings. Go to the site administrator first, as someone else suggested, to let them know the postings are fraudulent and ask if they can have them removed. Then you probably do want to file a police report to have it on record, then find a lawyer. But talking to the person responsible will only stoke the fire. He or she is obviously not a reasonable person and talking to him/her is not going to make much difference other than to let them know that they're getting to you.
My sister had this issue, she contacted each website, they removed each of the websites, she called the police as well and they were able to find out who created the website
Try contacting the administrator ("admin") of the websites and have them delete it for you and then they will deal with the person however they want (they may want to ban that person from their website or whatever...). My husband runs a forum type website and he doesn't accept any type of bashing of other people and can/will delete it when someone does. and then if it's severe enough, he will "block" this user from being able to get back on the website by banning their ip number.
There are federal laws on this, you need to go to your local police and you need to call your service provider you also need to formally contact the owners of the websites that these things are posted print copies ofthe postings and take them to your police... thats a good start......
If you can get the isp address you can look it up and see where it came from, if you want more help with this let me know, I can help track down who is doing this to you ..
Hi S.,
This article might be of interest to you and point you to some sites that can be helpful to you in providing a service to help.
http://www.lockergnome.com/kentlewis/2008/02/11/online-re...
L.
My brother had the same thing happen to him, but from an ex.
He has a membership that allows him to call an attorney anytime during the week for any legal advice. There is also an emergency number for anytime after business hours and weekends. Check out this website. The membership helped him. www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/donahue83 . Hope this helps you and your family.
contact the site administrators immediately.
You do have legal rights. This is libel and I would consult with an attorney about this.
