Help! done something stupid and am panicking now

[mychildsnameisbalonz]

Posting here for traffic.

I did something very stupid- earlier today one of my Facebook friends who lives in the US posted a petititon re: the police treatment of black men, a subject I feel strongly about especialy with recent events. I signed it, but when it came to zip code my UK postcode was rejected. So i very stupidly chose a US postcode (a genuine one- another US friend uses it) and clicked sign.

I regretted it 5 mins later. I think I have committed fraud and am scared. I hate the thought of having a criminal record and my conscience is telling me to say I made mistake and ask for my signsture to be removed. But am kind of scared if I do that they will take it further. I did give a genuine name.

I cannot afford legal help. I am in low contact with family due to abuse from parents and I have suffered with mental health issues (severe ones) and I don't really have anyone I can ask about this?

I know what I have doen is wrong and I am sitting here crying about it. I dont have money to pay any fines and I don't feel I could cope with a custodial sentence (I have complex PTSD and personality disorder and very bad anxiety- I know I would do something bad to myself in there, am already very vulnerable).

What on earth should I do?

People use fake addresses all the time. I used to have a US iTunes account with the address of The White House and no one ever noticed!

Take a deep breath.
This is ok.
You are panicking about nothing

Hope this reassures you ... we have used a family owned hotel in the USA several times.
They asked their customers to sign a petition to the US government. They checked and were told
It was fine for non US residents to use the zip code of the hotel. I signed using their zip code. It was 3 years ago and everything is fine.

Only downside is that the US gov then added me to their mailing list and I kept getting Trump campaign emails
But simply unsubscribed after a few weeks of daily entertainment at how awful they were.

Please don’t worry.

@hellosunshine5 you do not sound very sunshiney

^Agree! And no one wants that particular type of -sunshine- b.s here

Sunshine was supposed to be crossed out. I have a very contrary keyboard.

Can't remember the last time I ever used my own address.

I was about to make a flip remark about the FBI until I saw how stressed you are. STOP worrying, nothing is going to happen to you and you won't go to jail. You haven't broken the law. All that would happen if they did check the name and postcode and found they did not match - is that they would not count that signature.

Shame on you sunshine for being so vile, lucky you for never having to live with the hell that is complex mental health problems.

I always put a fake postcode on petitions. I promise you that nothing will happen.

Online petitions and such like this are not legally binding or anything like that at all. They are generally no more meaningful or binding than those Facebook posts that go around asking you to set your status to something if support something, or like to agree.

Even though the intent of the petition may be altruistic, more often than not, even then, they are nothing more than a way for the author of it to self aggrandize, essentially, just to collect likes.

I totally recognise this kind of panic. I understand why you are feeling like this but you don’t need to worry. You really don’t.

(It makes me feel more human knowing there are others who panic like this, but it’s horrible)

Your worry is your anxiety speaking. Nothing bad will happen to you because of this. There will be no come back.

Nothing worse will come of this than that you just wasted a few minutes of your life on an online petition, which is completely pointless and ineffectual.

Breathe easy.

OP if you’re worried about using a fake postcode because you were so keen to sign a clearly valuable petition, then you’re doing life right. I clock up worse than this multiple times a day.

Are you ok OP?

Don't let cruel people on here drive you away from a place you can reach out for support. Those twats are in the minority here.

Op seriously this is your anxiety catastrophing this! Have you had help for this? You can't live your life in this much fear! You did nothing wrong! No-one is a martyr and nothing bad happens still. Please seek more help because living life like this just be a misery. Seriously this is not a crime, I bet thousands of people do it. You can go to sleep tonight with a clear conscious, stop it now! And god the petition you signed for was bloody awful I was in bed last night crying for the poor man! I too signed the petition

Hey OP. I have an anxiety disorder so I understand how thoughts can get away from you. You are ok. You are catastrophising which is a classic dick move your anxiety will make. Anxiety is a cunt.
The real facts are you are fine. You haven’t broken the law, you haven’t done anything wrong, and you are going to be ok.
Be kind to yourself x

@hellosunshine5
But when will you get the wake up call to sort out your pathetic and desperate need for attention?

Op please don't worry a moment longer. No one will even notice and if they did it really doesn't matter. You have not done anything wrong. Please get help for your anxiety - it must be very difficult to manage. Good luck and sleep soundly knowing there is nothing to worry about.

AW OP don’t worry! Just breathe.
People enter postcodes wrong or fake ones all the time. It’s not illegal to put down an incorrect post code! You’ve done nothing wrong.

I do think you need to seek some help for your anxiety though. This shouldn’t be making you so distressed.

Nothing to worry about Op, if your from outside of the USA you leave it blank. But don’t worry. I’m sure a lot of people on that petition have done the same x

Wait.
Why don’t people put their own postcodes on petitions?
Curious. Surely that means your own online petition is invalid-so why bother?
If not then why do I bother if anyone else could have signed for me several times over?
I had no clue people did this. Why don’t I know this?

Don't worry OP as everyone else has said it's not illegal to give false information on a petition.

Absolutely nothing will happen.

My go-to is Hugh G. Rection. Raving leftie.

This was the name of a wrestler in the mid 90s. See also-Major Gunns.