Weeellllll...

[Arkcher]

Just prancing around, custom-making ringtones for my phone, and lo and behold, I get some IM's from some shady characters.

They had a kind of hostile feel to the way they were talking to me, ended up asking me how old I was, what my name was, and so on. I avoided answering any of these questions, but this particular person IMing me ended up 'revealing' to me, with poor grammar and spelling, that he was the police, and that I was under arrest for sexual assault.

He then addresses me by the first name of my sisters best friend, Mike, who is staying here for a few nights.

I promptly blocked this person, and they kept contacting me through my other IM names.

Rather than opening and reading them, I blocked them again, sent a report to AIM staff for harassment and spam, and a warning to their account.

 

I later opened the IMs, and they basically contained two more references to Mike, and described the very oft-stereotyped and generic police methods for arrest to me. (what with K-9 units, and how its going to 'hunt [me] down' if I'm not careful.)

 

I've since screenshotted these IMs, (rather than copy-pasting, I dont trust AIM that much) and made a brief description of what happened, and informed my parents.

 

I'm willing to bet that the mention of Mike was a coincidence, as its a pretty common name, so I'm not too phased by it, seeing the poor spelling and overall immature way that it was handled on the other end.

 

so I'd just like to remind everybody about the general internet safety mess. Basically its summarized as 'dont be stupid', so Be very careful about what you say to someone you dont trust, and dont let them phase you too much. And watch carefully how they word things, spell them, and the like.

Just be careful, guys. I know that this was kind of dodging the bullet, and was a bit close. You cant go wrong by letting your parents know as soon as you see suspicious activity. If it wasnt a threat, well, you can know that you were smart enough to take precautions.

 

but Having a freshly-reformatted PC, I was caught off-guard and had neither Antivirus/hack protection, or any of my hacks, so I couldnt track this person's activity or really do anything back to them.

so I see how important that kind of thing can be now.

[Horatio]

Just prancing around, custom-making ringtones for my phone, and lo and behold, I get some IM's from some shady characters.

They had a kind of hostile feel to the way they were talking to me, ended up asking me how old I was, what my name was, and so on. I avoided answering any of these questions, but this particular person IMing me ended up 'revealing' to me, with poor grammar and spelling, that he was the police, and that I was under arrest for sexual assault.

He then addresses me by the first name of my sisters best friend, Mike, who is staying here for a few nights.

I promptly blocked this person, and they kept contacting me through my other IM names.

Rather than opening and reading them, I blocked them again, sent a report to AIM staff for harassment and spam, and a warning to their account.

 

I later opened the IMs, and they basically contained two more references to Mike, and described the very oft-stereotyped and generic police methods for arrest to me. (what with K-9 units, and how its going to 'hunt [me] down' if I'm not careful.)

 

I've since screenshotted these IMs, (rather than copy-pasting, I dont trust AIM that much) and made a brief description of what happened, and informed my parents.

 

I'm willing to bet that the mention of Mike was a coincidence, as its a pretty common name, so I'm not too phased by it, seeing the poor spelling and overall immature way that it was handled on the other end.

 

so I'd just like to remind everybody about the general internet safety mess. Basically its summarized as 'dont be stupid', so Be very careful about what you say to someone you dont trust, and dont let them phase you too much. And watch carefully how they word things, spell them, and the like.

Just be careful, guys. I know that this was kind of dodging the bullet, and was a bit close. You cant go wrong by letting your parents know as soon as you see suspicious activity. If it wasnt a threat, well, you can know that you were smart enough to take precautions.

 

but Having a freshly-reformatted PC, I was caught off-guard and had neither Antivirus/hack protection, or any of my hacks, so I couldnt track this person's activity or really do anything back to them.

so I see how important that kind of thing can be now.

Thank you so very much Arkcher.

 

Please everyone remember, anytime anyone asks you for personal information, do NOT give it out. Tell your parents immediately!!!!

Let your parents handle the situation. People you do not know should not be asking for any personal information. If it was the police on the other end of the IM message, believe me, they would not be IMing you. They would be at your house talking to your parents if they were going to arrest you.

 

If you are IMing someone and you feel uncomfortable, stop IMing them immediately. If the person signs in under another screen name, do exactly as Arkcher did, block them. If your parents are not home, screen-shot what was written and sign-off of your IM program. Then the minute your parents get home, let them know what has happened. Under no circumstances do you continue IMing this person. Sign out of the IM.

 

And, I know you know this... but NEVER MEET IN REAL LIFE! You do not know who you are meeting. If they ask you to MIRL, do NOT respond. Immediately get your parents, or if they are not home, block the this person and sign out of IM.

 

Arkcher you did the right thing by taking a screen shot of the IM and saving it all for your parents.

 

Thank you for bringing up a topic that needs to keep us all on our toes always.

 

I know you hear this a lot, but your safety is the most important topic we can write about.

 

Horatio

[Mushroom_king]

Just prancing around, custom-making ringtones for my phone, and lo and behold, I get some IM's from some shady characters.

They had a kind of hostile feel to the way they were talking to me, ended up asking me how old I was, what my name was, and so on. I avoided answering any of these questions, but this particular person IMing me ended up 'revealing' to me, with poor grammar and spelling, that he was the police, and that I was under arrest for sexual assault.

He then addresses me by the first name of my sisters best friend, Mike, who is staying here for a few nights.

I promptly blocked this person, and they kept contacting me through my other IM names.

Rather than opening and reading them, I blocked them again, sent a report to AIM staff for harassment and spam, and a warning to their account.

 

I later opened the IMs, and they basically contained two more references to Mike, and described the very oft-stereotyped and generic police methods for arrest to me. (what with K-9 units, and how its going to 'hunt [me] down' if I'm not careful.)

 

I've since screenshotted these IMs, (rather than copy-pasting, I dont trust AIM that much) and made a brief description of what happened, and informed my parents.

 

I'm willing to bet that the mention of Mike was a coincidence, as its a pretty common name, so I'm not too phased by it, seeing the poor spelling and overall immature way that it was handled on the other end.

 

so I'd just like to remind everybody about the general internet safety mess. Basically its summarized as 'dont be stupid', so Be very careful about what you say to someone you dont trust, and dont let them phase you too much. And watch carefully how they word things, spell them, and the like.

Just be careful, guys. I know that this was kind of dodging the bullet, and was a bit close. You cant go wrong by letting your parents know as soon as you see suspicious activity. If it wasnt a threat, well, you can know that you were smart enough to take precautions.

 

but Having a freshly-reformatted PC, I was caught off-guard and had neither Antivirus/hack protection, or any of my hacks, so I couldnt track this person's activity or really do anything back to them.

so I see how important that kind of thing can be now.

*~*the grand illusion*~*The Final Cut*~*

 

I don't use AIM. But thanks for posting this.

 

*~*The Psychedelic Luau*~*The Astronomy Domine*~*

[Jesse]

Glad you got through that crazyness. *tosses over a micicle with his condolences*

[Arkcher]

Glad you got through that crazyness. *tosses over a micicle with his condolences*

Wooh!

...

'Makes me wish I actually ate Micicles. D=

-stores it in a freezer for future... use-

[Cheesus]

you should like, post the screen shots

with the IM SNs blocked out

[Arkcher]

you should like, post the screen shots

with the IM SNs blocked out

yeah, except I cussed him out 'cause I got mad. XD I probably shouldnt.

[Horatio]

you should like, post the screen shots

with the IM SNs blocked out

yeah, except I cussed him out 'cause I got mad. XD I probably shouldnt.

That is a good thing to keep in mind when you show the screenshots to your parents.

So, if someone is presenting themselves in an inappropriate manner, do not curse, just screen-shot the IM thread, block them and show the information to your parents like Arkcher did.