Identity Theft

[Guapler]

Let's assume you've an account but lost it. However, in a meantime someone recreates alike on a forum and claims to be you, even though obviously not, does something inappropriate and angers folks big and small. The Troublemaker couldn't use my own Reddit, Github or Writeas (none were lost) but didn't stop people from linking the nick with clearly foreign account and I was inactive after June, and still is, except very recently. In September I was shocked to found the whole time they were faking me but too late, I'm nuked. How common is that on the Net?

[Kinsie]

Very uncommon, Mr. Extremely Weird And Overly Specific Question For Their First And Only Post Whose Linked Github Account Is Entirely Dedicated To Piracy Stuff. Why do you ask?

[Guapler]

Recent findings of mine show objectively identity theft in general is an extremely common issue affecting millions per year in a single country. [1] Capitalization in English shall not be applied to articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions, anything else, is, indeed, deeply strange. The message [2] isn't a title, not historic nor a name itself, etc, no reason to capitalize. [3] Comes from a 15 years old, quoting Kinsie as is, "The dumb internet things I do," account. [4] An unnecessary question or piracy off-topic is but I'm interested in forum thefts, not the things.

[1] University of Illinois, "Identity Theft Prevention (Red Flags Rule) Program," https://www.obfs.uillinois.edu/identity-theft/
[2] ZDoom, "The Issue of Forum Identity Impersonators," viewtopic.php?p=1122096#p1122096
[3] University of Maryland Global Campus, "Capitalization," https://www.umgc.edu/current-students/l ... zation.cfm
[4] Kinsie, "The Kinsie," https://archive.today/PsENL

[wildweasel]

What in all that is holy are you going on about? I don't think I've ever seen someone write a one-paragraph forum reply with full MLA citation. Something tells me you're either taking this entirely too seriously for what amounts to a backwater internet message board, or you're specifically trying to get a rise out of people.

[crazyflyingdonut]

Why is he using this very forum thread as a source?

[Xeotroid]

I presume this is some fifth level post-post-modern memery with dozens of layers of irony going on here.

[dawnbreez]

To my knowledge, identity theft for the sole purpose of saying something inflammatory in someone else's name isn't that common. If you just want a smokescreen, you can make a burner account that isn't tied to anybody, and in my experience people rarely put this much effort into defaming someone.

I don't see the github that's being talked about, but if it *is* "entirely dedicated to piracy stuff", as the generally-trustworthy Kinsie states, then maybe you ought to clean that up a bit.

[Matt]

Used to be a bigger issue in message boards back in the day when you'd basically just type a username and your message each time, accounts didn't exist and everything (bans, etc.) was done by IP if specific identities were an issue.

Might theoretically still be an issue with anonymous imageboards but no one cares who anyone is on those.

[Kinsie]

I don't see the github that's being talked about, but if it *is* "entirely dedicated to piracy stuff", as the generally-trustworthy Kinsie states, then maybe you ought to clean that up a bit.

He removed it from his profile so it doesn't appear under his name anymore.

[kevansevans]

this is a very elaborate way of saying your brother logged into your account

[SouthernLion]

What in all that is holy are you going on about? I don't think I've ever seen someone write a one-paragraph forum reply with full MLA citation. Something tells me you're either taking this entirely too seriously for what amounts to a backwater internet message board, or you're specifically trying to get a rise out of people.

Why is he using this very forum thread as a source?

I am crying laughing. Oh my God, I haven't laughed this hard in what feels like months.

[Project Dark Fox]

I've seen something like this happen exactly once before because a person hated a forum moderator that much over ten years ago, but it went nowhere.
Whatever is going on, you're blowing it out of proportion and on the wrong forum.

[leodoom85]

Looks like a boring way of being salty over nothing.

[Rachael]

If you really truly feel like someone has taken your identity in order to ruin your reputation, there is only really one recourse of action that you have:

1) Prove that you are the real you, using your social media accounts, ie Twitter, Github, whatever you have. Make sure that your registration/join date is visible on these platforms. In these platforms, write about the impersonation so that the forum admin you will be contacting soon can see it, state how you are actually not this person and why you would not do what this person is doing, where you are from (general area only, NOT a specific location, just something they can confirm by your IP address), and the forum this impersonation is occurring on.

2) Write a GOOD letter addressed to the forum admin in question, make sure it is diplomatic and not too stoic (but not too emotional, either). In your case - no offense - but to be honest, I would get someone to help you write this letter. The way you have presented yourself here lately actually is more likely to harm your case than to help it - you strike me as a kind of person who doesn't care much for seeming friendly. You really need someone who can teach you how to be more friendly, so that when you present this letter to the forum admin they don't turn you away on sight. Make sure to mention your social media and make a case about how the social media accounts are older than the forum impersonator's and that you feel your reputation is under attack by said individual.

3) Finally, register on the forum in question with an alternate account name, and make contact with the forum admin in question, using the letter you wrote in Step 2. Do not mask your IP address because that will be a requirement for the admin to verify who you are. There is no guarantee this will work - everything is at the whims of that particular forum's moderation team (and some are really bad, some are really good, it really depends on a lot of things). If they feel like you could be particularly damaged by this individual, they might ban them and hide their content or at least change their username so that their posts no longer directly reflect upon you.

Good luck. As others have pointed out, this entire scenario seems a bit far-fetched, but I actually know it is possible for someone to pull it off if they really wanted to, especially if you have some sort of status.

Don't cheap out on step 2. Seriously - get someone to help you. If you bungle that up, you will permanently ruin your chances of them ever wanting to listen to you or hearing your case, and you will not get help, and then it will never even be possible to get the help you need.

(As an anecdotal note: The chances that an impersonator can truly damage your reputation is fairly slim. Most people can see right through that, and can see the extreme differences in behavior between different platforms. This will make it difficult for all but the most naive of folks on the affected platform to really believe it is you. Most people do a fine enough job at damaging their own reputations, without the help of some vindictive individual)

[Guapler]

Let's presume the assumption of "the wrong place for" is totally right, however, one could not know it in advance. Agree, the phenomenon in general is common but the very chain of events who happened to me isn't much. I guess the Troublemaker wanted to delete me, well, they "succeeded" without any direct login, just by lying "I am Guapler," even though they were not, clearly. Didn't know about message boards, well, yes, since an IP is shared today, it's an issue. The forums were not anonymous, surprised how even happened in the first place, still no idea why, I couldn't contact the Troublemaker. I have had good stats with mods, maybe the Troublemaker wanted to misuse it.

I don't have much of a choice. The forums who are the case, I can't even move in because of the Troublemaker. I have not used RIN for everything but posting YouTube videos and speaking in quotes from an account created as a backup. I've said "Some people want to see what they want to see," a quote and has been annihilated by only because of the quote but mainly in link of someone's imagination about, who mixed me with else, you cannot imagine how puzzled it is to have. Another one, Torrminatorr, has even locked itself down, I can only hope it helped to prevent actions of the Troublemaker, whatever they are. Some miscall me Gaupler, I am not, I am Guapler and I am not she/he.

I am happy to hear some people laugh. So great to hear Guapler made someone laugh here, after what happened to me in September, it is very nice to hear something light. For the sake of objectivety I will left the site, okay, but enabled showing my last login time. Feel free to discuss the topic. However had renamed it to a much more clear "Identity Theft" title. Hope it would be helpful to discuss the topic itself, not a topicstarter. If it is "nothing" to some, I guess never would understand how sad this is to have your identity being stolen and misused. ZDoom is the best compared to others. Hope nobody ever will have anything what happened to me. Be careful, don't miss it like I did.

At the end of the day I made the same topic on Reddit, carefully, to avoid misrepresentation, not from the same name. It went to nowhere. From other forums it was fruitless so far. I just wanted to know if anyone has encountered something like that and how they solved it. Don't think I didn't try to tell the mods, it was, but because I missed the point in time, they were not listening, thinking I am someone else. Very troubling. I read two topics about on RIN/Torrminatorr, they are disturbing and stated for anything but hate, I don't understand how people could be so cruel. I apologize to everyone here if you found the topic to be at a wrong place, again, not able to talk at right. Thank you all!

When I was writing, Rachael posted. The first point, there's an issue, I lost my passwords in KeePass. In addition how would they know me is me? I didn't tell about those on the forums, they nuked me, you know. In fact even here you cannot be sure I am I. Writing a good letter is a honorable idea but I am not the greatest writer, my native language isn't English. Hope your ideas will help others. I clearly could need help but I guess what lost is lost. Made a mistake in May 25, probably it is the start point; I don't have good stats with the admin, sadly, don't think could help, the admin is a very busy person. I am using Tor and ProtonVPN always, I cannot not mask, my country is censoring the sites.

The point before "()" is right. I see you are a very expirienced person. I could spent more time at a book and I recommend everyone do the same first, otherwise you will end up like me, not being able to fix. Maybe if I could speak better, even mods would listen, presumably the Troublemaker has better skills and because I didn't talk much after June, I guess a mod though I was them. I still do not know who did it against and why, have a guess but guessing isn't the greatest thing to be depend on. Maybe one of discussions made a person disagree and as a revenge they did it, my theory about. I lost my ticket to be back, RIN's team was influenced by Torrminatorr's, this is very disturbing.

Having slim chances doesn't reverse happened. I fairly agree, my May mistake is an example of what no one should ever do. I have solved it one by one later but the trust with the admin was destroyed. All people could make a mistake, I am not an exception. Many months were gone, I think they forgot me and replaced with the Troublemaker in mind. Unfortunately people sometimes tend to repeat a position of the authority instead of own, a mod believes I am someone else, that's the issue. The lesson is if you are writing, improve skills and if you have accounts, make them known and never lost a password, check if your name is the oldest and unique, be online and pay attention to people.