Stinkweed Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 It can be so good but also so bad... It's like another different reality which people can use to steal from you the stuff they didn't steal from you in real life (like your identity and privacy) or a place where people from all over the world can communicate. Well I'm concerned for my privacy because some stranger who claimed to be a teenage girl started messaging me on IM. I accepted their IM cause i thought it could be an old friend or a mutual friend, but turns out it's nobody I know. Claims they're a teenage girl so just in case (I believe in karma) I played it cool and tried to explain the dangers of contacting strangers on the internet but the way they replied was a dead giveaway: They said "You sound just like an adult" like they were trying too hard to sound like a teen, lol. I'm concerned. I tried to get from them where the hell they might've gotten my email address from but got nothing. Pisses me off... I guess i wanna know how to protect my privacy, lol. I don't even give out my email like that. I'm thinking it COULD'VE been someone I know playing a prank, I dunno. Hope not... I didn't say anything about me (did accidentally give out my first name when I still thought it might've been someone I was supposed to know but didn't remember me or something...). This sucks Link to comment
COtuner Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 I play it safe. I don't answer or open any email or message if I don't clearly recognize that person. If it's someone from my past, they need to in some way identify themselves in the subject line. I find a lot of people do that - "hey, haven't seen you since we worked at such and such". Still kind of a risk, but a lot of spammers haven't quite grown that clever yet. It's coming, I'm sure. I also change my email address frequently and have different ones for friends and family vs internet shopping and such things. Link to comment
Xplode Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 mate, its probably someone whos likes you from somewhere, and has gotten ur email through a friend. but just be warey. and ask what they want... or just let it go and block them.. .easy =) Link to comment
paranoiac543 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Blah I know how you feel.. I sometimes have random people IMing me and they're either mean or horny and i have no idea where they come from. they make up stupid things like ''oh i saw you in the yahoo message board''..when i didn't even know they had a message board O_o Link to comment
Stinkweed Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 Lol, I'm glad it's not just me. Yeah I was polite just in case. I once saw something similar to this happen to a friend of mine and he went overboard with all the nasty things he said. He took it as an opportunity to be as mean as he could possibly be and get away with it cause he's most likely never gonna see that person again. I believe it's wrong to do so cause maybe one day you'll meet the person... who knows? That person might be your TA, or your fiance's sibling, or a partner of yours in the corporate world, someday or something, I dunno. But I have to block them cause I won't just give away my privacy. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.