Thursday, October 14, 2010

Adventures in Facebook

Yesterday, I checked my email (my yahoo one) at somepoint, and noticed a message that said "Welcome to Facebook!" I found this odd, seeing as my facebook account is linked to my GU e-mail. So I figured that it was just a phishing scam trying to get people's facebook passwords. I just deleted it, and went about my buisness.

This morning, I was rather amused to find 15 e-mails notifying me that "So-and-so Has accepted your friend request." At this point I did a little investigative work and found that someone had actually opened an account using my e-mail.

I could not pass up this oprotunity. Instead of just deleting the account, I had to see what would happen if I contacted the "friends" of this guy. So here is the message that I sent to all of his friends, and posted on his wall: 


Hello Family and Friends of Mr. XXXX,

This is not XXXXX writing this. You may be thinking, "What?? Did his account get hacked??" The answer is no. I did not do anything subversive to gain access to this account. However I will explain why I am writing this, and XXXXX is not.

Yesterday, upon checking my e-mail, I received a message saying "Welcome to Facebook!" I found this rather interesting seeing as I have been on facebook since 2004, but associated with another e-mail account (you know, a University Account, back when facebook was just College students, back in the good 'ole days). I thought it was odd, but figured that it was a phishing scam to get people's facebook accounts. So I simply dismissed it.

This morning when I woke up and checked my e-mail, I was rather surprised to see that quite a few people had "Accepted me as a Friend." I enjoy meeting new people as much as the next guy; however, I was not in fact aware that I knew any of these people. So I decided to do some investigative work. I was not sure who had used my e-mail address, but I did know all of you who had accepted his friend request. So I just did a little facebook snooping work, and was able to back track to "XXXX XXXX."

Now you may still be wondering how I got on to this account. That was rather easy, seeing as when you do a password reset, facebook sends the confirmation to the e-mail linked to the account. So even though I did not know the password that XXXXX used, I was able to reset the password to a new one. Most importantly, I am the only person who knows this password now, not XXXXX.

So this is where I make my request: If you really are one of XXXXX's friends, please ask him to reconsider using other people's e-mail addresses the next time he tries to make an account. It is not very polite take advantage of someone's "virtual space." It is not like I just walk in to your house, and start inviting people over for a party.

To XXXX: I would strongly suggest going over to Google.com, and creating a g-mail account, this will give you your own personal e-mail address that you can use to sign up for any number of internet services and communities.

If you have any questions, I will leave this account open for the next few days; but I will eventually delete it.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday, or as I like to call it Thor Day.

God bless, and hold fast,
- Not Mr. Lewis


I will let you know if I get any responses.

3 comments:

  1. WOW! Smart thinking! I am interested if you get any responses!!!

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  2. I cannot believe that! It's crazy...and mostly sad. I don't understand some people nowadays...

    Smart thinking, Scott.

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