OT - Chat Room and Impersonations

[Madalot]

I woke up this morning to PM's asking me if I was in the chat room last night. I was NOT, but allegedly, someone logged into the chat using my name (madalot) and pretended to be me. While I have heard of this happening a few times to other people, this is the first time I have been told someone was impersonating me. I have a hypothesis as to why I was targeted last night.

There is someone that logs into the chat as "Moderator" and pretends to moderate the chat. To the best of my knowledge, the chat is NOT MODERATED. If Johnny writes that he did, in fact, appoint this person to moderate the chat, I will publicly apologize. But I doubt that will happen. Anybody that knows anything about this site will not give "Moderator" any time or credence, and most simply ignore him/her. The problem that I see is that I have seen new people in chat that don't realize "Moderator" isn't really a moderator and listen to what he says. Because of that, I have elected to "engage" Moderator, asking why is he/she acting as a moderator and asking who they really are. Whoever this person is refuses to answer my questions and when I won't back down, accuses me of being confrontational.

Based on this recent situation, I think it's even more important to stress that people need to verify the identity of those they are chatting with and not take it on face value that the person that is logged in as someone they know is really that person.

Sad that it's come to this.

[Uncle_Bob]

That is strange I've never had anyone pretending to be me. I wonder why

I always thought you had to use your cpaptalk.com password but thats not true. I was able to briefly sign in as Madalot on chat, sorry for the scare

[Madalot]

That is strange I've never had anyone pretending to be me. I wonder why

I always thought you had to use your cpaptalk.com password but thats not true. I was able to briefly sign in as Madalot on chat, sorry for the scare

That's okay. I forgive you. Sorry for being so forceful when I came in to confront you.

[Amigo]

Until, and unless, the chat "room" is secured by requiring a password for any existing forum name, you either have to inconveniently require proof by having the individual log into the forum and update a thread, or just take your chances.

I cannot be bothered and simply avoid the place.

[Madalot]

Until, and unless, the chat "room" is secured by requiring a password for any existing forum name, you either have to inconveniently require proof by having the individual log into the forum and update a thread, or just take your chances.

I cannot be bothered and simply avoid the place.

You are smarter than I am, I'm afraid. I enjoy chatting with people and won't stop using it. But I do think it's important for people to know of the games that are being played so they can protect themselves from being fooled by an imposter.

[Janknitz]

At the bottom of each forum page there is a section that shows who is online and logged in. That might be one way to check and see if a person is legit--if they are not logged in to the forum it would raise the suspicion level.

We'll just have to watch out and warn the newbies so that they understand that the person in chat may not be legit.

[Madalot]

Madalot is right (the real Madalot!). Last night, I was initially fooled because her impersonator had come into the chat and began talking about specific subjects that the real Madalot has posted about on the normal message board. So the person was trying really hard to be an impostor, not just going into the chat under a false board member to play a happy-fun game of "gee look at how I can logon as anyone" type of thing.

Thanks for posting this information, gvz. If you happen to be one of those that enjoys chatting, finding out someone is trying to impersonate you like that is not something to be taken lightly.

I'm sure a lot of people would be pretty darned upset if they found out somebody went into chat and tried to interact with other people, pretending to be them.

It's kind of sick, you know?

[Madalot]

At the bottom of each forum page there is a section that shows who is online and logged in. That might be one way to check and see if a person is legit--if they are not logged in to the forum it would raise the suspicion level.

We'll just have to watch out and warn the newbies so that they understand that the person in chat may not be legit.

This would work, except many people choose to hide their online status, myself included. I thought of that, but realized that many of the "guests" listed are actually forum members that are hiding their status.

[Julie]

Is there any way someone with bad eyesight and not paying close attention could have misread Madalot for Moderator? They are not that dissimilar and while I know they were not necessarily saying you were each other, they still could have gotten the names mixed up regardless (and I know there is no 'moderator' normally).

[jabman]

Sorry to hear that someone is Impersonating you madalot. I also like to visit the chat room every now and then and it is a shame that someone (and I have my suspicions on who it is) has to try to ruin a fun place. I think that person might have some mental issues.
I will have no problem and not be offended if I am asked to prove I am me when I visit the chat room.

[Madalot]

Is there any way someone with bad eyesight and not paying close attention could have misread Madalot for Moderator? They are not that dissimilar and while I know they were not necessarily saying you were each other, they still could have gotten the names mixed up regardless (and I know there is no 'moderator' normally).

I guess anything is possible, but I doubt it. I have heard of this happening before, just not to me. I've had a couple people tell me that somebody logged into chat impersonating them. They found out about it either at that time seeing somebody logged in as them or the next day when somebody commented about talking with them in chat - and they hadn't been there.

Either way, I think people just need to know that the possibility exists that somebody is not who they appear to be.

[Madalot]

Sorry to hear that someone is Impersonating you madalot. I also like to visit the chat room every now and then and it is a shame that someone (and I have my suspicions on who it is) has to try to ruin a fun place. I think that person might have some mental issues.
I will have no problem and not be offended if I am asked to prove I am me when I visit the chat room.

Thanks Jabman. I think all of us that are on the "up and up" will conform to this. A philosphy of "put up or shut up" -- meaning you have to prove it or people won't talk to you.

[VABeach]

This past weekend I “clicked” on the chat room for the first time and it worked to my surprise. It hadn’t worked before. I will admit to using my password as I just assumed (wrongly) it was required. I had a brief chat with Madalot before going fishing for the day.

After seeing this topic originally posted by Madolot, I went to the empty chat room and successfully signed in without a password. I then experimented with an arbitrary series of letters (no user names) to see if I would be logged on and to my surprise, I got logged on.

So, I will occasionally sign on as me (VaBeach) but will be on guard as it appears that anybody can sign in under any combination of letters and you won’t know they are legit unless they logon and appear at the bottom of the page under “who’s on line”.

I do find it hard to believe that some would “lurk” around this site as there are plenty of other sites for that kind of chatter.

For what it’s worth.

[Madalot]

This past weekend I “clicked” on the chat room for the first time and it worked to my surprise. It hadn’t worked before. I will admit to using my password as I just assumed (wrongly) it was required. I had a brief chat with Madalot before going fishing for the day.

After seeing this topic originally posted by Madolot, I went to the empty chat room and successfully signed in without a password. I then experimented with an arbitrary series of letters (no user names) to see if I would be logged on and to my surprise, I got logged on.

So, I will occasionally sign on as me (VaBeach) but will be on guard as it appears that anybody can sign in under any combination of letters and you won’t know they are legit unless they logon and appear at the bottom of the page under “who’s on line”.

I do find it hard to believe that some would “lurk” around this site as there are plenty of other sites for that kind of chatter.

For what it’s worth.

You were chatting with me that day. I remember we talked for a few minutes, so you were not fooled by an imposter.

[kteague]

A few weeks ago while I was in chat, lo and behold, I must have cloned myself or something because all of a sudden, guess who entered the chatroom - another me! Talk about in your face!