We’ve decided as a group to expand our focus a little. Instead of just looking into people who are faking illness, we’d now love to hear from you about all kinds of internet hoaxes. Is someone claiming to be a celebrity and you have questions? Do you have questions about the authenticity of a blogger or a Facebook page? Have an online boyfriend who is too good-looking to be true? We’d love to hear from you at warriorelihoax@gmail.com.
Also, we’re working on updates about the people who have appeared on our blog in the past. If you have questions for any of them, please post in the comments.
We’re going to do a Questions and Answers post in the next few weeks, so if you have questions about the blog, our methods or anything else, please post away.
(Comments are moderated and won’t be posted for this entry, but if you leave an email, we’ll let you know we received them).
Thanks again for reading.
I think that’s an excellent idea and I’m sure you guys will have your hands full with that bunch added to the mix. I can’t wait to see what you guys dig up!
Thanks, Christina! We needed a little palate cleanser. The illness stuff can get very intense.
how about animal hoaxs with people claiming to have ill pets
We’d love to hear stories about it but some of those are really hard to prove. If you have any, please email us!
I’d love to see scammers who are getting major financial gain exposed, whether they’re illness scammers, dating scammers, or adoption scammers. It’s very frustrating seeing all these people who are unbalanced and couldn’t be prosecuted even if they weren’t. I would find it more satisfying to see the ones who’ve taken people for thousands of dollars hung up to dry.
As a longtime reader, I’d rather see you stick to a single focus: the one that is your original mission statement. Exposing those who scam people out of money and prey upon and mock the ill is a noble pursuit. Checking out every petty liar and fibber on the internet is a waste of resources that will only compromise the well-earned integrity of the group. It would disappoint me to see this site devolve into just another spiteful and drama-ridden witch-hunting community. I can always go to LiveJournal for that.
Good points. We definitely don’t want to devolve into a drama group. It’s been interesting to see what has come in and I promise we’re going to stick with heavily researched facts and not drama or mocking. We mostly just need a little palate cleanser because fake cancer stories can get pretty depressing after a year of focusing on them
Personally, I think this isn’t such a great idea. I’m all for exposing people faking illness and exploring everything illness related, however, venturing into something like online friendships and relationships is a little different because that can really hurt not just those being faked but the fakers too. Don’t get me wrong I’m not condoning the faking at all. I just think it could potentially hurt people in the long run if they for example pretend to be David instead of John. Yes, John could be lying about whatever to an online girlfriend but in this day and age it shouldn’t be news that fakers do exist. Also it is cutting very close to the movie and tv show “catfish”.
I think stick to the illness related stuff because these people are hurting communities, and lying about extremely horrible things. If one person is trying to hurt a community it is completely different than someone meeting a person online and having a relationship or friendship under a different name or picture or whatever. I’m not saying it is right and I totally believe it is morally wrong, but outing some of these people could really hurt them in the long run. Also remember adults choose to be involved with people online, if smeone wants to protect themselves they need to skype, video chat, and meet asap, if they do not or dont have the ability or means to do that then they shouldnt be getting close to people they dont know in real life. In this day and age I think most of us know that anyone could be sitting behind a computer.
Also it seems that relationships which are based on lies or faking are eventually exposed or found out anyway without it being plastered online,
I’m not on the hoaxers side, but I feel like exposing people could also do more damage than good. Sure people choose to lie, but people also have a lot of problems when they do that and putting them through something so horrible such as exposing in a website like this could severely ruin their lives and relationships with friends in real life and their family.
I agine 20yr old having an online relationship and being exploited on a website like this and a future employer googles them and finds things that could severely hurt their livelihood. Also think about defamation of character. If I were to learn a friend of mine in real life was faking who they are to someone online, and learned about it online, I would seriously think twice about being that persons friend. But for all I know they could totally care about the person they have a friendship with. But if they were “exposed” I just wouldn’t ever trust them. Do I want liars around me? No. Do I want to be friends with a faker? No. Would I want my friend to be exposed on a website that could hurt them severely, the person they have a thing with, their employe,net prospects and future relationships! Absolutely not.
Just my opinion.
Really good points and we’ll take them into consideration. In some cases, I can see just writing up the story about the hoax without revealing who is behind it, for many of the reasons you discussed above.
Taryn did you ever come across this one? A friend of a friend was friends with this woman on Facebook (apologies for all the ‘friends’ in that sentence!). This is even a step beyond most of the scammers.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mum-allegedly-poisoned-daughter-4-with-chemotherapy-drug-leaving-her-in-a-fight-for-her-little-life/story-e6freoof-1226618616342
Such a horrible story 🙁
Those of us who have or have had children undergoing cancer therapy can’t imagine how someone could subject a healthy child to it. I was so incredibly relieved that my daughter’s cancer was contained and she didn’t have to have chemo. This story is really beyond belief.
Thanks for the work that you do in uncovering these hoaxes.
There are a lot of people who post online under a different ‘identity’, afterall that’s been one of the ‘best’ things about the internet since the beginning, that you can be whoever you want to be. Especially for some of us who don’t like who we are as a person, to NOT be that person online is a huge attraction. But where do the lines blur between what is ‘okay’ and what is not? For me, being ‘someone else’ online was more about just being who I really felt I was in my heart – without having to meet anyone else’s expectations or it was to feel accepted as a person without all the judgement that goes on – about looks, about work, about past etc. I’m not out to pretend I’m anyone other than myself, I’m just liking being accepted for what I am on the inside rather than the outside. Some people get into role play, like on Second life or such thing, where from the start they are often portraying someone completely different to their real selves, but that’s not fraud, that’s a game. Where does it go too far? Obviously when someone sets out to fool others for their own gain – emotional, physical, financial – or in a way that hurts others.
On facebook I’m involved with a lot of people in the eating disorder community as I have one, and the support and understanding there can be amazing. however I have been continuously shocked at how many people on there fake being someone completely different, fake their eating disorder, steal other people’s photos claiming that they are themselves, pretend that they are in hospital or have comitted suicide, pretend to die, vanish from facebook and come back again, alive, a little while later either as someone else (who is very obviously still them) or saying their account got hacked and it is horrible of people to believe they might have died. A lot of time is spent phoning hospitals in another country or state because someone you thought you knew has disappeared after saying they were taking an overdose or threatening suicide in another way, to find out they never existed in the first place. Also a lot of these people directly encourage genuinely sick people with eating disorders to keep going, keep doing what’s killing them because they are ‘amaaaaazing’ and ‘strong’ blah blah blah. It’s very upsetting to be fighting something that is hell, and fighting to not die from it, and having people do this – like they are spitting in your face trivialising all you have been through, and I’ve seen directly people who are genuinely unwell actually become sicker because they became emotionally tied up with someone who led them on a rollercoaster of emotions but turned out to not be true.
I guess there is no point to this comment – I’m just shocked all the time and this is just facebook. What do we do about all these people and how do we start?
I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all of this 🙁
What about people who just don’t use their real or full name openly on online journals? I’ve had a journal online for over a decade and I have no desire for my real name to be posted on the web. Am I a faker? No, the stuff that I write about, daily things that happen, observations and thoughts are 100% mine. Am I a liar? Since I go by my middle name, I’m technically not lying. I don’t tell people that I am not using my real first name on my website, or in emails from visitors to my site.
I do those things because I was harassed and bullied in highschool, and with the Internet being as anonymous as it is, I know the bullies would use that to their own advantage. I can’t, emotionally, take their torture and abuse again, after being free from it for 10+ years.
Legitimate questions for sure. We’ve had some great suggestions come in for people who are faking things and exploiting people online. Just using an assumed name on a journal is not exploitative. Also, I’m sorry you were bullied 🙁
I admire the intention behind the idea, but I think your going to lose a certain amount of credibility. There are already quite a few blogs/sites that do this & aside from some of the legal problems encountered, And where will the line be drawn? Does this mean that parents who exploit their children for financial gain, for example will be written about? Or will this be an extension of MWOP (which Taryn was or still is active in)
We’d still keep the standards we’ve had for the medical hoaxes. At this point it’s just an idea, especially if something really interesting came up or that we could really help someone with something that has bothered them for a long time. Again, the medical stuff can get really depressing for us to look into, and this could be something that would recharge our batteries a little. Thanks for the feedback, though. I appreciate it!
I don’t post on my journals that I’m not using my real name. I’m certain that the name I use is common enough so that it won’t draw too much attention.
I would really like you to investigate the “good samaritan” memes/stories
like these http://themetapicture.com/humanity-is-not-lost-yet/
are these all fakes? all real?
thank you!
I bet you could find a lot of these ones on snopes. I like to pretend they’re all real because I love sugary sweet stories of do-gooders 🙂
Those are some full, thick eyebrows on the girl with leukemia! 😉
I was friends with someone on fb, his 2 sisters, 3 friends, ex gf, uncle etc this person was having a lot of problems so for 2 solid years I was there for them all. Anyway I found out they weren’t real, it devastated me I honestly thought after 2 years we were all close friends. Because of that I tend to keep to myself. I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on my worst enemy.
Ugh, I’m sorry 🙁 That had to really shake you up.
In my experience on online moms’ groups, there are LOTS of people who fake pregnancies, miscarriages, premature babies, and infant death (and sometimes all four.) You wouldn’t believe how many women tend to do this. Have you looked at any of these cases? It’s really terrifying – and usually they are just looking for emotional support, not financial. I personally know one woman in real life who faked a twin pregnancy – had a baby shower and messaged me for advice and everything.
If you ever run into any of them, send them our way! Also curious how the friend in RL’s story ended, if you want to email and share.
Like JCM said, there are a TON of people out there who fake the deaths of children, miscarriages, pregnancies and infertility. I’m part of the infertility community and we have had a few women that I am aware of fake their stories. There is one in particular, but she removed her blog. I do have screenshots though! It’s truly sick to fake something like miscarriages or infertility and get a lot of support out of women who really are struggling.
I’m often trying to keep track of people who pretend to be amputees but are actually devotees who friend anyone affiliated with the amputee community.
http://www.wsbt.com/videogallery/73059533/News/VIDEO:-Police-said-con-artist-made-thousands-off-of
Wow! She really did a number on her community.
Can you look into this one? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Izzys-road-to-recovery/105543026287360?hc_location=stream She doesn’t actively outright ask for donations but she does manage to have lots of emergencies that she “vents” about that net donations. (Spoiled food, not gas to get her “sick” kid to the doctor, birthdays, etc etc. A lot of her posts don’t ring true.