Hunt down a scammer?

[Sock]

There is someone pretending to be me - going as far as giving out my AIM screen name, I'm not sure how they got it - and trying to 'sell' my pets. I know that they've scammed people out of 200k, 500k, 500k and a fire pb. But after these people are scammed people continue not to trust me when I insist to not give this person NP. Even though I have on my lookup an message urging people not to trust this person, she continues to scam people - and apparently, neomail them from my account.

What do I do!?

[Twizzler0171]

First of all, change your password. The scammer evidently has access to your account, if she neomails them from it. After that... maybe contact the Neopets Team?

[xjox]

Is there any chance it could be someone from your house? Change all of your passwords, including email and IM passwords. And definately contact the neopets team because otherwise you may find yourself frozen. Good luck!:)

[Sock]

I've changed it about 4 times today, and sent two different emails to the staff about different incidents. ><

No, it couldn't be anyone in my family. My stepbrothers are too kind, my brother doesn't care about neopets, and my sister is 13 months old. I have my own computer, too - and my account on the shared one is password protected. I'll go change my email and AIM passwords now.

[xjox]

I've changed it about 4 times today, and sent two different neomails to the staff about different incidents. ><

I dont know much about computers and that but is it possible that you have visited a site and they have grabbed your cookies or something?

Another possibility is that the so called victims are infact the scammers and are lying about this, maybe to get neopoints or something out of you.....abit far fetched i admit, but still possible!

Do you have any siblings or anyone who has access to your computer?

Sorry didnt see that you had already answered that!!lol

[Sock]

I guess that's technically POSSIBLE, but I doubt it. All the neopets related sites I go to are mainly very-visited fansites like PPT. I know I was getting some funny popups before from sites that usually have them...

*goes to get Spybot and Ad-Aware* ><

[Johnnydontgo]

There's not much else that you can do. I'd assume you'll get a "reasonably" fast response from TNT, since you've mailed them. The may not answer general questions very quickly, but occasionaly, you get a nice staff memeber *coughcoughbriancoughcough*.... and they'll response in a timely fashion. Good luck with dealing with all this. If I were you, I'd change passwords every day until I got a response from TNT. Just in case.

[Sock]

I've heard that Felicia is a good staff member too. If I don't get a response in a week or so, I'll send individual emails to them about it. uu;

[VirtualMetal]

You're right to put a warning on your account. I did that when someone was scamming using my acount names. I had something like "NOTICE: This account and pets will never be for sale or given away. If anyone says it is they are lying/scamming and it is against the neopets rules."

Then no matter who says anything no one will believe it. That stopped the guy who did it to me. Don't know about them neomailing from your account though. I'd ask for proof from the claimers. Since I can't really believe it. Unless you've had a cookie grabber attack some way. It could be that they're trying to get stuff out of you as a far fetched scam also like was said earlier.

Hope you get it sorted.

[Sock]

Ugh, I did put a notice up. The scammer apparently claimed she did this as a "test." Someone actually believed her. -.-;

[shapu]

I'm sure there are programs out there than can spoof messenger account names. I would suggest putting a notice up in your AIM profile to the effect of "I will never offer to sell my pets. Anyone who says I will is lying."

And, of course, change your passwords, clean out your cookies, and run a virus scan.

EDIT:
Oh, and read this forum discussion thread.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/archive/index.php/t-38565

I'm not sure if there's any foul language in it, but there might be (I didn't read it word for word, just an Evelyn Wood-ish scan), so be prepared.

EDIT again:
Ah, yes. Did a little Goooooogling, and it appears that there ARE ways to spoof an AIM address. So be advised.

[Sock]

Okay. I found her screen name - mine is SuperSockeh, she pretended to be me by using it as 'SupaSockeh.' She claims to know me at school and insulted me down to my bushy eyebrows so she has to know what I look like.

It feels like I have a stalker and I'm kind of freaked out.

But I'm sending the AIM conversation to the staff. Hopefully this will help them in tracking her down, or something.

[everconfused]

there's ways to spoof just about anything anymore - there's even things you can d/l to "spoof" email addresses, which is so amazingly awful - and the site I found that on is a supposed trusted reputable site (I went there as a mirror site to d/l SpywareBlaster - HIGHLY recommend as another IE line of defense, along with Spybot S&D and ad-aware as a backup).

That someone was apparently able to neomail is really troubling. Someone somehow did get access to your account if they're just clicking reply and neomailing you. If the scammer is using a neoname that is almost identical and telling people to neomail them using your username that's something a little different.

Block everything first of all - go to site preferences, check to not accept nf requests, guild, bd, items from anyone but your nf. Look on your nf list - any names that just don't ring a bell? Remove them.

Don't delete the neomails, you may need them. In fact it might not be a bad idea to either screenshot or copy/paste to notepad. Also keep a copy of everything you email to TNT - copy/paste your emails to them with the date and time.

Make sure you run all your av/spyware with system restore OFF, if there's anything clean it, then reboot and turn system restore back on. Then scan again. If you're using Spybot and have SpywareBlaster there is one false-positive SearchForIt. Don't click to fix that on Spybot if you have both programs. If you only have Spybot, DO fix it if you got it.

Lastly, you've already posted a notice on your lookup that someone is claiming to be you, that your pets will never be for sale, etc. I would add to that that you do not use AIM with anyone you do not know in real life (even if you do talk to "strangers"), and that you would never talk to anyone via AIM, email or neomail regarding your account or pets, as that is against the rules.

Stuff like this is serious, and not just because it can affect your Neo account/reputation, but because this person, if they've somehow gotten access to your AIM could have access to your email, etc. If you use AOL, change your password and change your security question. Many email services have this now. Make the answer something really crazy that could never be guessed.

[Sock]

I'm pretty sure she's not an actual HACKER. However, I'm wondering about the people who claim to be neomailed from my account. My password is pretty unguessable and since this started I've changed my password about 5 times. I don't think she's actually hacked me, I think she's just a scammer.

Ugh. I don't know what to think.

Edit:

I sent a long-winded email to Felicia, as I've heard very good things about her. I hope that she will help out.

[everconfused]

Sock

I really hope this all gets straightened out...it's entirely possible this person make a neo account with a name that looks like yours, and if someone's in a hurry they won't look close or they'll think it is you on a different account.

As far as being able to describe you, sure sounds like someone you know. Has school started yet for you? Look around, see if there's a few people standing around laughing or acting weird when they see you.

As to how they got your AIM? Well, look at your profile...you've got your information right there for anyone to see.