Munchausen Syndrome by Internet.

[FrayedKnot]

I used to post on a blog and was quite good "friends" with a woman who, as our friendship progressed, made it "known" that she suffered from MS and a lot of other illnesses peripherally.

About the same time she told me this privately, she also shared the info with other regulars on the blog and soon I saw comments alluding to $$ and gifts sent her by caring posters. Eventually she told us she was dying and needed an operation on her heart but because of her MS and Ankylosing spondylitis, her specialists could not give her the life-saving surgery.

But so much of what she described about her illness either didn't jibe with what I knew or could research about MS or contradicted info she had previously posted. Not only that but she began "sharing" info about her life that bordered on cheesy novel: born to immense wealth and privilege, lived in mansions all over the world, neglected by her jet setting parents, always bragging about her Prada this and Gucci that......I just got an odd feeling and although I hoped for wellness for her, I did doubt most of her claims.

As it turned out, or so it was later told to me, she had several sock puppet alts on the site, had received quite a bit of $$ from sympathetic "friends", and had even made up a fake engagement with "another" regular poster! He was someone whom we all thought we "knew" and were so happy for "them" when she flew halfway around the world to first meet him, and followed their "courtship".

Yep. He apparently didn't exist either, only as another of her alts.

Yipes!

Sorry for the novel, but thanks to Steely for bringing up this issue! It seems so "out there" but is actually quite common.

 

[Confusion]

I have MS, and I've never been told that it would prevent any kind of surgery. I think a lot of people who do those things really need to spend more time researching before they go public with their ridiculous plans.

 

[Steely Dan]

I used to post on a blog and was quite good "friends" with a woman who, as our friendship progressed, made it "known" that she suffered from MS and a lot of other illnesses peripherally.

About the same time she told me this privately, she also shared the info with other regulars on the blog and soon I saw comments alluding to $$ and gifts sent her by caring posters. Eventually she told us she was dying and needed an operation on her heart but because of her MS and Ankylosing spondylitis, her specialists could not give her the life-saving surgery.

But so much of what she described about her illness either didn't jibe with what I knew or could research about MS or contradicted info she had previously posted. Not only that but she began "sharing" info about her life that bordered on cheesy novel: born to immense wealth and privilege, lived in mansions all over the world, neglected by her jet setting parents, always bragging about her Prada this and Gucci that......I just got an odd feeling and although I hoped for wellness for her, I did doubt most of her claims.

As it turned out, or so it was later told to me, she had several sock puppet alts on the site, had received quite a bit of $$ from sympathetic "friends", and had even made up a fake engagement with "another" regular poster! He was someone whom we all thought we "knew" and were so happy for "them" when she flew halfway around the world to first meet him, and followed their "courtship".

Yep. He apparently didn't exist either, only as another of her alts.

Yipes!

Sorry for the novel, but thanks to Steely for bringing up this issue! It seems so "out there" but is actually quite common.

BBM

I would have asked why she needed money if she wasn't gonna live anyway.

 

[Steely Dan]

You know, I'm sitting here, kicking myself. You mean to tell me I could have used my cancer to have gotten you all to pay some bills? Seriously?

Well, in that case, I've got a surgery coming up that will cost probably about $12,000. Which I don't have. Anyone want to donate?

LOL.

Best-
Herding Cats

PS: Steely, you're laboring under the impression that my critters are wild and uncontrolled. I am, and always will be, the leader of this particular pack. FRED IS MINE. You can't have him back. Too bad, so sad...go eat some grass.

BBM

Every time I eat grass I throw it back up. I prefer to smoke it. :giggle:

 

[FrayedKnot]

I have MS, and I've never been told that it would prevent any kind of surgery. I think a lot of people who do those things really need to spend more time researching before they go public with their ridiculous plans.

You'd THINK, huh?

 

[FrayedKnot]

BBM

I would have asked why she needed money if she wasn't gonna live anyway.

Um, yeah, and she also was constantly talking about going to fashion weeks, her family's fab villas, etc.

IIRC the story line was that her parents cruelly cut her off (she was in her 30's tho) and she was having to pay for all of her medical costs herself including her world renowned specialists at Johns Hopkins and her flights to the US. (She lived in SA or in NorCal depending on the day)

My hinky meter went up pretty quick and I was shocked at the number of folks who were ooohing over the Emperor's New Clothes.....

 

[Chewy]

We opened a site ourselves (DH) after an exodus from another site where it imploded due to political wars on the site and cliques. But the site never took off and it was still up but we never used it.

I was on another site where one of the moderators banned one of the members and then in order to contact him I told him to come to that site but never mentioned it was my own site. I never thought about it but once they joined to talk to the banned member I could see all the IP addresses.

I was shocked when I found out that four members with whom I'd had online friendships were actually sockpuppets. I guess the person didn't use their proxy because they figured it was a different site.

They were someone who had helped out another person (no money in this case) taking their side in debates and basically had caused the other site to implode. It was all ONE person.

My eyes have been opened a lot over the years. Even recently I've busted someone on a site that is flat out lying about information they are discussing. When I tried showing it to the admins they shut it down. And I was suspended for at least a week. So I give up.

But people lie all the time online to get attention.

 

[Steely Dan]

You know, I'm sitting here, kicking myself. You mean to tell me I could have used my cancer to have gotten you all to pay some bills? Seriously?

Well, in that case, I've got a surgery coming up that will cost probably about $12,000. Which I don't have. Anyone want to donate?

LOL.

Best-
Herding Cats

PS: Steely, you're laboring under the impression that my critters are wild and uncontrolled. I am, and always will be, the leader of this particular pack. FRED IS MINE. You can't have him back. Too bad, so sad...go eat some grass.

 

[Steely Dan]

We opened a site ourselves (DH) after an exodus from another site where it imploded due to political wars on the site and cliques. But the site never took off and it was still up but we never used it.

I was on another site where one of the moderators banned one of the members and then in order to contact him I told him to come to that site but never mentioned it was my own site. I never thought about it but once they joined to talk to the banned member I could see all the IP addresses.

I was shocked when I found out that four members with whom I'd had online friendships were actually sockpuppets. I guess the person didn't use their proxy because they figured it was a different site.

They were someone who had helped out another person (no money in this case) taking their side in debates and basically had caused the other site to implode. It was all ONE person.

My eyes have been opened a lot over the years. Even recently I've busted someone on a site that is flat out lying about information they are discussing. When I tried showing it to the admins they shut it down. And I was suspended for at least a week. So I give up.

But people lie all the time online to get attention.

Fortunately, secret agents like myself live such dangerous lives everyday that we don't need to embellish anything. :what:

OOps! I've said too much. Ignore this post.

 

[STEADFAST]

We opened a site ourselves (DH) after an exodus from another site where it imploded due to political wars on the site and cliques. But the site never took off and it was still up but we never used it.

I was on another site where one of the moderators banned one of the members and then in order to contact him I told him to come to that site but never mentioned it was my own site. I never thought about it but once they joined to talk to the banned member I could see all the IP addresses.

I was shocked when I found out that four members with whom I'd had online friendships were actually sockpuppets. I guess the person didn't use their proxy because they figured it was a different site.

They were someone who had helped out another person (no money in this case) taking their side in debates and basically had caused the other site to implode. It was all ONE person.

My eyes have been opened a lot over the years. Even recently I've busted someone on a site that is flat out lying about information they are discussing. When I tried showing it to the admins they shut it down. And I was suspended for at least a week. So I give up.

But people lie all the time online to get attention.

It seems like it would be exhausting go to all that trouble for attention that only amounts to typing on line. People are weird.

 

[Steely Dan]

It seems like it would be exhausting go to all that trouble for attention that only amounts to typing on line. People are weird.

BBM

Nothing to say, just wanted to point out that, that was posted by you. :innocent:

 

[ChristYTN]

I do know someone IRL that has Munchausens (not the by proxy type). We typically just ignore her 'illnesses' and she fades away until the next time.

But, one of the latest Munchausens by 'internet' that I've witnessed was played out on twitter.
This particular person had a huge story about cancer, treatments, she actually claimed she was from London, but was in Texas receiving treatments. Her kids were in London with her nanny.
She garnered many supporters, sympathizers and apparently donations. She had a blog going and everything.
A few of us were very suspicious. (I, like an above poster, have a sensitive bs meter)
I would ask her when she claimed to be 'spewing blood' all the way home from chemo...(where, funny enough, she said she was the patient that entertained all the other chemo patients during treatment) I asked why she didn't have nausea meds. I named a few by name and asked if she had a prescription from her doctor.
She got very defensive and said something like "my doctor doesn't prescribe those meds".
Anyway, she got called out eventually...but as she was getting called out, she had a 'daughter' post that she had died in the hospital overnight.

Long story short, she did live in Texas, a seasoned internet troll. She is back on Twitter using a different version of her old name, and has new followers that think she's just amazing for surviving cancer. (Apparently they don't know she also came back from the dead)


People are very very weird.

I also knew someone on a message board that claimed her daughter was killed in Iraq. She had a funeral story and everything.
It didn't take much to figure out she was full of it. Sad though, she was using someone elses daughters pictures that did die in combat.

I just don't understand.

 

[FrayedKnot]

There's a Bills board I'll post on once in awhile. A lot of people claim to have inside information on draft picks, or pending free agent signings, and when they don't happen they have an excuse or two.

There are a couple in particular that get about 25% right. So, many other posters believe they really have inside information.

To be fair, that's probably a higher percentage than those clowns on the Fantasy Football show. Stupidheads seem to be making sure my bench gets more points than my team......*grumble*

Sorry for the OT.....

 

[marycarney]

Help me out here. Was it WS that had a thread devoted to the (apparent) MBP family that was featured on Extreme Makeover? I remember de-bunking a bunch of stuff on that thread, but cannot locate it. Maybe it was somewhere else?

My favorite part was her EKG analysis.

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Most of us have heard about Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. For those unaware, it's a disease of the mind that parents, usually women, use to gain sympathy for themselves. They will poison their own children to make them sick so that their friends lavish sympathy on the parent. They will sometimes go so far as to kill the child.

First, let me say that I'm not accusing anyone here of this. I want to bring it up because I'm sure some people here post on other boards. I think this board is moderated well enough that people with this problem are quickly identified and weeded out.

What I'm talking about is Munchausen Syndrome by Internet. Rather than go into what it is I'll let this article explain it. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239

So be very careful who you befriend when talking about your illness' on the net. There are people out there trying to scam you and they're really good at it. JMO

I put this up in the depression thread and I reposted it in the cancer thread too.

I started a thread here because I want as many people as possible to be aware of this and be careful about who they get too close to on the internet.

There are some very sick people out there.

This is an intriguing offshoot of Munchausen Syndrome!

and it is good to be aware of taking safety measures on the Internet!

 

[Steely Dan]

This is an intriguing offshoot of Munchausen Syndrome!

and it is good to be aware of taking safety measures on the Internet!

Rule #1 is never send money to someone on the internet. I have a litany of medical problems and could talk very intelligently about the side effects and stuff like that there. However, I also have a conscience. I have never, and never will accept money, or ask for money outside my family. A friend sold me something for less than he would have sold it to a non friend and I accepted that. I think he would have done that if I wasn't sick anyway.

I don't recall anyone barfing up blood from chemo. If they did they'd probably be rushed to the ER and the chemo treatments would probably stop altogether or for a significant amount of time, JMO.

One more thing. I'll never accept money for myself, but it still pains me to watch my emus go without their filet mignon and lobsters. :sigh:

 

[IHAVENOCLUE]

Rule #1 is never send money to someone on the internet. I have a litany of medical problems and could talk very intelligently about the side effects and stuff like that there. However, I also have a conscience. I have never, and never will accept money, or ask for money outside my family. A friend sold me something for less than he would have sold it to a non friend and I accepted that. I think he would have done that if I wasn't sick anyway.

I don't recall anyone barfing up blood from chemo. If they did they'd probably be rushed to the ER and the chemo treatments would probably stop altogether or for a significant amount of time, JMO.

One more thing. I'll never accept money for myself, but it still pains me to watch my emus go without their filet mignon and lobsters. :sigh:

As for the money aspect.... I have already made the decision to never send money on Internet... Or rather.... It has been made for us... We HAVE NO money!!! :floorlaugh:

I am thinking more along the lines of getting emotionally sucked into Internet posters taking advantage of caring people such as the deceitfulful ones in the article you posted.m

And as for your emus... They may just have to adjust their tastes to tube steaks and crawdads instead... :smile:

 

[Steely Dan]

As for the money aspect.... I have already made the decision to never send money on Internet... Or rather.... It has been made for us... We HAVE NO money!!! :floorlaugh:

I am thinking more along the lines of getting emotionally sucked into Internet posters taking advantage of caring people such as the deceitfulful ones in the article you posted.m

And as for your emus... They may just have to adjust their tastes to tube steaks and crawdads instead... :smile:

BBM

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjGNUmDpOY&feature=plcp"]You're dispicable - YouTube[/ame]

 

[believe09]

Thanks Steely-I try and get this up somewhere at this time of the year because there are people who will start all kinds of stories as a means to accumulate money. They are pretty easy to recognize once you figure out the pattern. PM is another tool-it is very very easy for some of these folks to play on the warm hearts of sleuthers and convince others to send them cash etc.

We have seen our fair share of hoax's here at WS, lol.

 

[ChristYTN]

The Amazon wish list thing is, to me, a dead giveaway. Seems a lot of scammers love those. A friend of mine pointed out a girl on Twitter that was pregnant, claimed to be very poor, (maybe she WAS very poor...idk). She would say things like she hadn't eaten, was waiting for her boyfriend to find money, etc.
A few in their group felt sorry and were direct messaging with her. She set up a wishlist with food items in it at first. About a week later, an mp3 player appeared in the wishlist. lol

She was posting photos of her and the boyfriend , they were apparently 'juggalos' and she somehow forgot that all of her friends could see her tweets to other people. she must have had a 'moment' and posted pictures of her marijuana joints to one of her friends.

Her friend list dropped dramatically that night and I am pretty sure her amazon list died.

so, be cautious, and while some people may need help, its likely they don't.