Category: reputation management

Fake Profiles & Online Impersonation

When watching my local news the other evening, I heard of a case that really surprised me. A Town Commissioner of a small town in North Carolina, disagreed with his fellow board members over a specific topic. So much so, that he decided to create a fake Facebook profile and use it to harrass and argue with residents. Later, he admitted using a Charlotte area businessman’s real name & real profile picture. The surprising part of this is that we expect this from scammers, but not someone who would be sitting on a board of a city or town. It seems that these days, anything is possible. Being proactive is a must.

Online Impersonation Tricks

  1. Facebook Marketplace: Fake ads on the site have become a real problem. Some of the ads look like they are from legitimate businesses such as Home Depot, Lowes, etc.. They make the post look very real, using lots of pictures. The Better Business Bureau says the fake ads are common and they get thousands of complaints each year. “Impersonation is one of the key factors of what scammers love to do,” Sarah Wetzel of the BBB said. “They love to impersonate those well-known companies because that way they already have a foot in the door with the consumers.”
Source: Digital Information World

2. Rental Scams: Scammers ( who operate anywhere in the world ) can advertise a fake rental online. Next, they add a sense of urgency to attempt to get a deposit on the property. They will use excuses as to why they can not meet you in person. They also make sure to tell you that several people are looking at the property. Nationally, over 230 rental scams have been reported this year, up from the same time last year. Victims report losing an average of $550.

Better Business Bureau offers these tips:

  • Do an online search for the landlord’s email and phone number. If the same ad is listed in other cities, that’s a red flag.
  • If you can’t see the property in person, try to find someone you trust to go and confirm the unit is what’s being advertised online.
  • Don’t fall for deals that are too good to be true. If a unit is well below market rate or promising extra amenities than normal, it could be a red flag.
  • Be wary of required payments through cash transfer apps. Peer to peer apps are meant to be used with people you know.

Use the Better Business Bureau’s scam tracker as a tool to both report and prevent scam.

3. Catfishing: When someone creates a fake identity online for the purpose of starting a relationship. They then use this as a way to gain interest and confidence so they can scam the person out of money. Social Catfish is a software company that works to help people who believe they have been the victim of catfishing. It is one of the many software platforms we use at eChatter when conducting online research. They also have a great reverse image tool within the platform.

Impersonation of a Business

This is sometimes called Domain Spoofing. When done correctly, it can damage a business’ reputation while scamming consumers who fall for their pitch. All while impersonating the business. Two of the most common ways is cybersquatting and typosquatting.

  • Cybersquatting: Scammers use already established business websites and copy them to look just like the real website. They then sell counterfeit products.
  • Typosquatting: Scammers register a domain name similar to that of the legitimate business. They purposely use typo errors to change it but at first glance, people take it as the legitimate company’s website. This is sometimes used to redirect someone to a competitor’s website or try to collect ad revenue.

This just scratches the surface of the many ways scammers use the web and social media. It is a subject we will continue to write about in the future, so check back often for updates.

Social Media Defamation

Social media in many ways is still the wild, wild west. It is a lawless environment in which many people have been harmed by reckless comments. Over the last year, we have seen several cases in which one person was harassing another person in social media.

How common is online harassment? During a January 2020 survey it was found that 44 percent of internet users had personally experienced any kind of online harassment with 28 percent of respondents reporting to having experienced severe forms of online harassment such as physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking and sustained harassment.

What is Considered Defamation?

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (which has a great web page on online defamation law), there are three elements that must be shown during a defamation claim:

  • The statement has to be false
  • It has to be communicated (published) to someone other than the person being defamed
  • It has to be about the plaintiff and have the potential to harm their reputation

Written defamation is considered to be libel. Verbal defamation is considered to be slander.

For a statement to meet the legal definition of defamation, it has to be a false statement by a third party. Additionally, it needs to be intended to do serious harm to a person’s reputation. It has to be done “without fault”. You must be able to show someone was acting irresponsibly when making the statement.

Examples of Social Media Defamation

HG.org legal resources outlines social media defamation examples as follows. “Not every untrue or unkind statement is actionable. However, many statements are. For example, if you accused a person on social media of abusing his or her spouse or children, such a statement would likely be considered defamatory if it were not true. Even if an individual posts information that is partially true and partially false, he or she can be found liable for defamation. For example, a person may claim that an individual was fired for harassment. The individual may have been fired but not for harassment. The court may find defamation still existed despite some truth to the statement.“

Steps to Dealing with Social Media Defamation

Most businesses are monitoring online content through social media and the web. Most individuals are not. You may not even be aware of someone posting negative information unless an associate tells you about it. On the other hand, you may be very aware because the person has set out to harrass you online.

  1. Do not respond. This is hard to do. Responding hastily can just make the situation worse.
  2. Capture the evidence. Take screenshots as soon as you can in order to collect the posts. This will at least provide you with a good point of reference if things get worse.
  3. The next step is to either hire a Private Investigator or an Attorney. Getting legal help is very important if it doesn’t look like this is going away. Either will be able to conduct some research on the perpetrator. You may not be the only one this is happening to. Legal help will also be able to authenticate the online evidence should it go to court at any point in time. An Attorney may be able to provide you with a Cease and Desist Letter.
  4. Notify the social media company. Check out the resource pages. You may be able to report this.

Always be careful. This is especially true if the person lives near you. Exercise caution until you get it resolved.

Employees’ Rights & Social Media

Employees and social media have been a sore spot for employers over the years. Back in the early years of social media, many employers were concerned about the amount of time employees spent in social media during an average work day. Their concerns centered around productivity, rather than what the employees were posting about.

Fast forward to 2020, and we have an entirely new set of problems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, essential worker’s were posting all over social media about their work conditions and at that time lack of PPE. Everyone knows that if you want to get your concerns noticed, turn to social media. It has become one of the most effective ways in which to communicate today on a large scale. If you are lucky, you will be picked up by the news media and your story will become national news.

Social Media and The Whistle Blower

Erin Marie Olszewski is a Nurse-turned-investigative journalist, who has spent the last few months on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, on the inside in two radically different settings. Two hospitals. One private, the other public. One in Florida, the other in New York.

As you can imagine, if you know her story, she has been scrutinized in the media. Some applaud her courage while others try to rip apart her story. So we wondered, who is Erin Olszewski and what does her social media story look like?

We conducted a deep web scan on Erin. Surprisingly, some of her prior “life” was still up for anyone to discover. The deep web scan revealed, as they many times they do, a story of who Erin is and what she has been involved with leading up to her fame.

You can view her entire deep web scan here. (Erin Olszewski) Taking a look at an employee’s online, publicly available, social media content, provides a story board of the person’s life to date. It can reveal a lot about a person, good and bad. In Erin’s case, one is left with the impression that she can be a bit of a rebel rouser. It also shows however, that she is also someone who stands up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid of the consequences.

Can an Employee Get Fired?

This is the new million dollar question. The short answer is, it depends. We did a little research and found the following as a place to start.

  • Some states and localities may have different laws or additional laws.
  • Federal Laws: First Amendment: Free Speech. Doesn’t state that employees or individuals can say whatever they want wherever they want without consequence.
  • According to the National Labor Relations Act: An employee’s comments on social media are generally not protected if they are mere gripes not made in relation to group activity among employees.

NLRA Board Decisions

In the fall of 2012, the Board began to issue decisions in cases involving discipline for social media postings. Board decisions are significant because they establish precedent in novel cases such as these.

*In the first such decision, issued on September 28, 2012, the Board found that the firing of a BMW salesman for photos and comments posted to his Facebook page did not violate federal labor law. The question came down to whether the salesman was fired exclusively for posting photos of an embarrassing accident at an adjacent Land Rover dealership, which did not involve fellow employees, or for posting mocking comments and photos with co-workers about serving hot dogs at a luxury BMW car event. Both sets of photos were posted to Facebook on the same day; a week later, the salesman was fired. The Board agreed with the Administrative Law Judge that the salesman was fired solely for the photos he posted of a Land Rover incident, which was not concerted activity and so was not protected.

*National Labor Relations Act’s website.

In the end, companies of all sizes should have a written social media policy in place. As an added precaution, lawyers have advised social media to be added to any anti- harassment policy as well.

If you are lucky, you will go viral, get picked up by a news outlet, and your story will become national news. Just like what happened with Erin Marie Olszewski.

There is a Rumor Going Around…

In any work environment there is bound to be a whole bunch of dynamics around the office. Too many type A’s in the office could be quite exhausting for example. It takes skill to navigate it all with the help of a good HR department. This is however, very understandable and common to most people.

But what happens when things turn ugly at work? What if someone has it in for a person or even a group of people? Workplace conflict is a very real issue and one that should not be taken lightly. With the mental health issues we currently have in our country, employees should be trained in what to look for and have a safe place in which they can voice their concerns. In fact, many work places are taking a proactive approach by conducting workshops on this topic to teach employees what is acceptable and what isn’t.

Workplace Policy

Developing a workplace policy like the one below is helpful and can be especially important should any legal issues come up.

Under federal law and Department of Labor (DOL) policy, harassment by DOL employees of DOL employees based on race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, or parental status is prohibited. The Department of Labor does not permit harassing conduct by anyone in the workplace, including contractors.

Taken from the DOL website

Posting it in the lunch room or in a public area would be a great first step. But it does take much more effort on the part of management and prevention is key. Years ago, when a company had a problem within their organization, it pretty much stayed there. Not true anymore, thanks to social media.

Social Media’s Role

What is social media’s role in all of this? Does an employer have the right to monitor employees social media? Can it be cause for dismissal? More and more the answer is yes because it can be a red flag alert that will stop a publicity nightmare down the road.

Where there is smoke there is fire. Social media can be a red flag to other things that may be happening within a department. This was true of a Seattle Officer who showed signs of of violent tendencies on and off social media.

The Seattle Officer lost his job over a collection of social media posts. The post became public by placing a blurb about it on the Office of Police Accountability’s website. The officer included some pretty rough comments about illegal immigration, with an emphasis on endorsing violence. The department issued this statement:

“The department’s ability to fulfill its public safety duties depends on communities believing that officers will treat them equally and with dignity, regardless of their immigration status,” Best concluded. “Your comments suggest that you will not do so. They could have substantial negative consequences to the relationship between members of the Department and those that we serve and showed exceeding poor judgment.”

Additionally, the officer was suspended for escalating another incident to the point where a fellow officer feared for their safety.

As an employee, would you feel more safe knowing your employer was being proactive? When does safety in the workplace trump privacy? Please share your thoughts…