Your Facebook page can say a lot about you, but what if it's not you? A northern Michigan family's life was turned upside down when their 15 year old daughter's identity was hijacked on the social media site.
Their struggle and a warning for you in tonight's Fact Finder Report.
Navigating your way through the ever changing internet can be tricky for adults, let alone for children.
That's why this northern Michigan family didn't allow their 15 year old daughter to create a Facebook page yet.
They say, "she's a good kid, she's a good student, she's friendly, quiet, likable, doesn't really have any enemies to speak of."
But this January her mother was online and found what looked like her daughter's Facebook page. It had her pictures, school and personal information, but as she looked closer it also had some disturbing likes, sexual and inappropriate with comments designed to offend. It was in her daughter's name, but her daughter didn't make it.
They say, "Even people who were her friends knew it wasn't her."
But hundreds of others thought it was her and the page skyrocketed to more than 900 friends in just a few weeks.
The family tried in vain to get Facebook to shut it down, but they couldn't get a hold of anyone.
They say, "it hurts, it makes you feel you know, helpless."
The family called police for help. At the request of law enforcement, Facebook did finally de-activate the page, but even then it took 2-3 weeks. They say, "The hardest part is that you cannot put a stop to it very easily."
Now the page is gone, but the pain for the family remains. They say "someone is either angry or jealous or whatever, but afraid to face up to it so they way things happen now is they hide behind a computer."
But they hope that person won't be able to hide for long as investigators search for who did it.
Detective Todd Heller is the computer forensics expert for Grand Traverse County. He says, "We take every case that comes into the department very seriously and we investigate them to the best of our ability and prosecute when we're able to prosecute."
Detective Heller says right now who ever did this could face charges of identity theft, harassment and using a computer to commit a crime which can double the time behind bars.
And if it is a minor, their parents may also face legal trouble down the line. He says, "a lot of the harassment on the internet, you can get sued. Parents are responsible for their kids until they're 18 so maybe not criminally, but civilly they might be paying some big bucks to the victim's family."
The hardest part now is waiting. Detective Heller says these investigations can take 3-4 months. The family has faith the system will work.
They say "we'll find out and police will find out who it is. It may take some time but they are going to find out who it is."
The family says the number one thing that would have helped in this case is if Facebook had responded faster and shut down the page faster it could have limited the effects. But they couldn't even get a hold of a live person!
Detective Heller says since Facebook has free access and doesn't verify any of the information users submit he thinks there are just going to be more cases like this, with similarly frustrating results.
And with colleges and future employers all checking out Facebook profiles, there is more on the line than ever.
What do you think should happen? Is the risk part of the reward of easy access, or should Facebook implement some better tools to stop things like this from happening?
Share your thoughts below.
In the meantime Detective Heller says parents should keep an eye on what their children are up to on-line. He says another great tool is to set up a Google Alert for your name, screen name or other important information. Google will send you an email whenever that information comes up on the internet. He says that may not stop the problem, but it helps you learn about it sooner and fix it faster.
