Multinational Crisis-Part 4

Part 4: Who Cares?

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” Facebook. Silent. TikTok. Silent. Instagram, Threads, Lemon8, and every other social media platform are not concerned with what is happening to you, women and men, on their platforms. They care only for the mighty dollar and statistics.

The celebrities, actors, musicians, reality TV stars, and other famous figures don’t seem to care either, as long as you like their posts and follow them, so their image stays plastered on your screens. I have reached out to several and have yet to hear a word on any solutions or on whether they are doing anything to protect you, us. I even reached out to influencers like Jim Curtis, when one of the imposters used him to try his luck with me. What I got was crickets. Not a sound or a word on their awareness or actions to curtail this activity.

That, in itself, shows me the priorities of these two entities. To be fair, I didn’t think I’d get much of a result from celebrities to begin with. They care only for themselves and for staying relevant to the public. Relevance is their money maker.

Social media, however, should be able to do more than sit back, field complaints from victims, and only issue lame blanket statements. I reported so many of these hustlers, and the feedback I got every single time was, “There has been no violation of community standards.” Really?! So community standards must allow people to impersonate others, coax them into giving away their hard-earned dollars to those who have not earned them, and ruin the reputations of famous people. Nice.

Facebook has managed some lame pop-ups when someone tries to message you or friend you, but that is not good enough. All it does is cover their asses against lawsuits, and I am not sure it would really hold up in a court of law.

So, the scamming continues, the celebs get their free airtime, and social media suffers no ill effects. This is so wrong! I am still getting messages on social media from women asking me how to tell if a celeb is real. It’s simple. NONE of them are real. NOT ONE. The problem lies in the impersonation of regular people, or people who are not quite Hollywood famous. There is no safeguard and no protection for you.

I was contacted once by a man impersonating Michael Andrew. For those who don’t follow sports, or specifically swimming, he is an Olympian gold medalist in the men’s relay. He confidently tried to tell me he was Michael, even though I told him right off the bat that I knew he wasn’t. His profile pic wasn’t even Michael’s. It was of a young Asian man, no doubt taken from the internet. I told him I knew for sure because I know Michael personally. He didn’t buy it and kept going. I asked him questions, and he answered them, popping in and out to Google the answers to argue his point. Then I did something sneaky. I asked if he remembered the weekend he and his family spent at our home. He didn’t flinch and replied that he did. So I asked if he remembered my dog, Wilson, playing with his dog. He said he did and that it was fun. My dog’s name was Copper. I then told him I forgot his dog’s name and asked what it was, and waited. He gave me “his dog’s" name, and that was wrong too. I pounced, telling him he was lying about his identity, and he doubled down. So I asked him to hang on, that I would be right back. He waited.

That’s when I called Michael’s mom to tell her what was happening and to ask if she was aware that scammers were now using her son too. I gave her details of the interactions, told her I had screenshots because I was not going to neglect that, and asked if she had someone she wanted me to send the information to. She asked me to send it to Facebook and report him immediately. I did so as soon as I hung up. I went back, thinking the impersonator would be gone, but he was not.

I restated that I knew he was fake, and he argued with me again. I asked where he was then, if he was the swimmer, and he named a country. His mother had caught me up on what was happening in their lives, and I knew exactly where her son was. The con artist did not know, and I had him again. He asked me how I was getting all this misinformation, and I had had enough. I told him that not only did we know him, but I was also on the phone with his mother while I was texting him. And then there was no further comment. I clicked on his profile to block it, but it had already been deleted. Just like that.

I reported it to Facebook, and that was the last I heard. Not a single word from the social media giant.

Over the year, I reported each and every one to Facebook, and nothing was done. I had file after file for each conversation, including the profile picture they used and screenshots of the pages as well. I saw no action.

One day, the oh-so-cute verified badges began popping up on profiles. This was designed to give us all a sense of security. It is not. It means nothing. It is a paid service meant to lend credibility to a profile. But here is the thing. Scammers began paying for them and showing up with verified accounts as well. I don’t know how they do that, but I will tell you that on one occasion, a Michele Morrone fraud sent me a photo of his Italian driver’s license to prove to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was the real person. I analyzed it carefully and noted the strange discrepancy between the facial photo and the license. It was a forgery. Nothing they provide you should be taken as proof. I’ll repeat this again. They do not engage on social media.

These examples are just a couple on one platform. I reported tens of them to TikTok, and I got the same stock answer: “has not violated community standards.” How about criminal standards? There are violations there for sure. But who cares, right?

Meanwhile, socials are hyper-alert to everything we post. They have no problem blocking my drawings or pulling reposts when the bot’s butt gets hurt.

All of this is very simple and has a simple solution. If media bots can detect a boob in an artistic rendering and pull it just as quickly, then a bot should be able to notice more than one profile with the exact same name and likeness. But they don’t do it.

Celebrity and non-celebrity agents, managers, or individuals themselves do nothing. Celebrities have people running their social media posts, and they do and say nothing. It is a simple matter of having a post pop up every day to inform anyone who makes a comment or views their content, pages, or reels that the artist does not chat, text, email, call, or otherwise engage with their public personally. It should also state that their managers, staff, PR people, secretaries, nannies, or pedicurists do not contact individuals, promising to connect them to the celebrity (this happens, and it is another tactic the scammer uses. I have personally experienced it several times). Public service announcements should be splashed on their profiles, verified or otherwise. It should pop up each time you access any of these. THAT would prove they are not just aware but proactive in protecting you, their so-called “beloved fans.” I would then have some respect for them as a whole. But I have nothing.

The fact is, since this started, I have become repulsed by the celebrities who tried to swindle me. I can’t even stand seeing their names on the screen. The lack of care or empathy for fans is stunning. Maybe if enough fans stopped clicking and enough people jumped off social media because of it, they would notice and find a solution. Then I would respect their concern for people.

Know that you have to police everything you do, say, hear, and see online. And please, whatever you do, do not let that blue star lure you into false security. It should not.

So you want action? Do you need action because you are tired of being followed by these scammers and of having to doubt everyone and everything? The squeaky wheel gets the oil, people! Get mad, stay mad.

Complain, file reports, and take screenshots of everything on every platform. Then stop visiting, clicking, and commenting on these celebrities' profiles, reels, and posts. That is the open door, the gateway for the scammer to notice you and come for you. If you report these activities and see no steps taken to protect you, allowing you to be victimized, stop using the media. Go somewhere else.

I don’t spend much time on any social media anymore. I post and run. My art, articles, and the occasional meme all get uploaded, and I am out. I use writing platforms for my interactions and others for my art. The ones I use now verify my identity. They verify using my legal identification documents. This means the people I interact with there are real people, too. Search for those sites.

To the celebrities and their entourages, and to the social media outlets, I say, “Shame on you!” Your livelihoods depend on the backs of these everyday people who spend time on you or your products. You should want to keep them, us, safe.

For you and others, I want to reiterate that you need to be pessimistic and question everything. Do not believe anything or anyone you don’t know personally online. Stop making it easy for yourself to be victimized. Talk. You have nothing to be ashamed of unless you say nothing and do nothing to help others avoid being scammed or misled. So have courage, be bold, be unashamed. Share it with other women, men, friends, or even strangers. Tell everyone. Some will act like you are dumb for falling for these scams, but I promise you, it is they who do not know what they are talking about. You are the hero if you save one person from this grief. Even just one.

#scams #imposter #celebrities #women #men