on internet fraud and fake babies - a cautionary tale

[baratron]

I was recently the victim of an elaborate hoax. Some of you have read some of this already, but this is the full story.

The story:A couple of months ago, I started going to a couple of new Sims 2 irc channels, where I met a woman who went by the net handle of Jorenne or Jojo. A few days after I joined the channel, Jorenne said that she was

Comments

[griffen]

Sweetie, the fact that you are so big of heart as to reach out to help this woman speaks volumes about you, all to the good. The fact that she was a deceptive twit who played all of you the way she did for as long as she did speaks volumes about her, none of it good.

I was touched to hear about your compassion for someone who claimed to be in need, whether or not they deserved the compassion. It makes me glad to have you as my friend because the world needs more compassion, especially in the face of the deception that we're all facing every day.

*hugs you*

[jinian]

Such a mess. I'm sorry you went to all the trouble, but I agree that it's good to know. It's sort of odd being appalled and wishing the perpetrator well at the same time, but you evoked both of those things very successfully.

[lindsical]

This seriously reminds me of the Gen/Emily Incident on TSR, which is sad and makes me wish I was more involved with the sims.

Also,

I can't even begin to imagine being terrified and in pain and not sure if your baby that you just gave birth to is going to survive.

It's really unexplainable. :)

[mhw]

You did the right things. I don't know what drove the other person to do what they did, but I think they do need a lot of help. This isn't a bad person ripping people off, or even I think a malevolent prankster, but someone who thinks they won't get support from people if they tell the truth about what's going on, so they 'borrow' things for their story that are pretty much guaranteed to get it.

It's really no different from a kid who's upset about something and tells Mum that they have 'a headache' so that they can get the concern and cuddles that they really need.

I'm not condoning what they did; just working on understanding it.

[the_siobhan]

That was my reaction. Munchausen Syndrome perhaps?

[marnanel]

you are a good person and the world needs more people like you. I have been glad for random people off the net helping me when I've been in trouble. It's a sodding awful shame people abuse it.