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[PollyPocket19]

Hello all,

I hope you are all staying safe in these Covid times. Apologies if this is in the wrong section but my first time posting on Mumsnet so not sure if I’m doing it right!

I can’t believe I’m posting about something as petty as social media but I’ve never been through this before so I was just looking for other people’s views etc.

So recently on Instagram I have been receiving these strange messages. They call me names and then tell me to stop having an affair with ‘their friends husband’ (I’m most definitely not I’m happily married) and these messages vary from just saying that to ‘if you don’t stop we will tell your boss’ now. At this point I hadn’t responded because I assumed it was mistaken identity so I said I didn’t know what they were on about and would happily give my bosses email because obviously I’ve done nothing wrong. At which point they blocked me. I thought it was odd but tried to forget about it, I got a couple of DM requests a few days later but when I went to look at them they had disappeared so I’m assuming I had been blocked. I blocked that account and tried to forget about it.
About a week or so later a new account pops up saying the same thing, nasty names and that I’m having some sort of an affair and again before I can say anything back, they block me. All in all about 4 accounts have been made.
I went on google to look up what this could be and apparently (and please correct me if I’m wrong) things more or less fall into three categories
Trolling
Cyber-Bullying
Online Harassment.
I looked at each of these things and apart from them call me names and saying I’m going to tell your boss, there are no threats and there is nothing violent. I don’t think it warrants going to the police and also all the accounts are fake wife zero followers/following. The only other thing I read was malicious communications but is that the same as what I’ve received?
Also really sorry for the formatting of this message, done on phone!
Interested in hearing your views!
P

@emilyfrost I don't know much about the police and as you can tell nothing about Instagram but isn't it hard to track down fake profiles? Isn't that the reason a lot of profiles are fake?

@SchrodingersImmigrant 🤪🤪

On Instagram you have 'messages' but also 'message requests' from people who are not on your friends list. Are you sure the messages are not just disappearing into the 'message requests' folder?

@gingerbreadfox

On Instagram you have 'messages' but also 'message requests' from people who are not on your friends list. Are you sure the messages are not just disappearing into the 'message requests' folder?

Nah. It happened to our work account too. You can unsend. I was scratching my head because I had notifications but no messages

@gingerbreadfox I thought that if you didn't follow each other the message would automatically be a message request? A little like Facebook? Isn't there that thing where if you aren't friends have no friends in common you go to that folder no one ever checks?
I thought maybe they had deleted the message but then when I clicked on their profile it said no posts etc so they had blocked me and that's why the message disappeared if that makes sense!

[quote PollyPocket19]@emilyfrost I don't know much about the police and as you can tell nothing about Instagram but isn't it hard to track down fake profiles? Isn't that the reason a lot of profiles are fake?[/quote]
Yeah, that’s my point, so they’d never know who was doing it and wouldn’t waste time trying.

It’s trolling, it happens all over the internet every day and most people have experienced it repeatedly.

Many threads on mumsnet are troll posts.

[quote PollyPocket19]@gingerbreadfox I thought that if you didn't follow each other the message would automatically be a message request? A little like Facebook? Isn't there that thing where if you aren't friends have no friends in common you go to that folder no one ever checks?
I thought maybe they had deleted the message but then when I clicked on their profile it said no posts etc so they had blocked me and that's why the message disappeared if that makes sense![/quote]
Ahhh ok I see what you mean. Sorry - I think I was getting confused with Facebook messages which can go into a different folder

Just lock your page down so nobody who isn’t your friend can message you! That will sort it

Nobody is going to email your boss, none of it is real, just check your settings and move on - don’t accept friend requests from anyone you done know.

Don't apologise @gingerbreadfox I actually only found out this week that apparently if you aren't connected on Facebook, messages go into a hidden folder and there's no notification!
I'm learning loads!

Hi @Heyahun yeah that's the convo I have had with them without being blocked! They said I'm a s**g..and they could tell my boss about me and that's when I bluffed them and said sure would you like his email and then they blocked me so I know they have no intention of doing that!
I think that's when it would change things if that were to happen because then I'd have real reason to go to the police because at the moment it's just ridiculous name calling and accusing me of some big affair and I feel if I took that to the police that's no reason to look into because it's so petty!

@emilyfrost do you think a lot of fake profiles get investigated? I assume if you were to say you were going to blow up the Houses of Parliament they would investigate it but not my situation

Reverse

@Toriathebadger I don't know what this means

I also had a look at malicious comms by doing a quick search and it said it had to be grossly offensive if not threatning. Is name calling grossly offensive?

[quote PollyPocket19]@emilyfrost do you think a lot of fake profiles get investigated? I assume if you were to say you were going to blow up the Houses of Parliament they would investigate it but not my situation [/quote]
No of course they don’t. Nobody has time for that.

And no, name calling is not grossly offensive.

It means that I think you are the one who has been messaging someone and accusing them, and are now worrying about the potential consequences. I may be wrong, of course, but you have mentioned 'malicious comms', as you call it, numerous times despite the replies you've had here. You've also made a duplicate thread on the legal matters board. It just doesn't sit right with me.

@Toriathebadger apologies if you feel that way. I suffer from anxiety and tend to focus on one part of a situation at a time. I've always been this way.

That's why I don't know much about Instagram/fake profiles/trolling, I'm quite shy and nervous and tend to ask a lot of questions.

Frankly what you just said was unkind and if it doesn't sit right with you then please leave this thread. If I had done it why would I be on Mumsnet asking advice?

I'd rather speak to my DH but he is overseas in the forces and have no one to really speak to about this.

Please go away.

@Toriathebadger oh and I made a duplicate thread which I explained, I am new to mumsnet and felt I had maybe posted in incorrect subs. I'm very thankful to the advice I've received on here everyone has been great up until you.

Ouch!

I apologise if you feel that way. I am genuinely sorry for being unkind if you are genuine. The use of 'mal comms' and 'subs' doesn't sound to me like the kind of language that someone who is so unfamiliar with the online world they don't know what trolls are would use. As I said, something about this thread just doesn't feel right.

As you've posted on a public forum, you are going to get some opinions that you may not like, or that may have got you wrong and misunderstood your use of language. I shall leave your thread. Have a good evening.

@Toriathebadger I'm not going to get in a discussion with you but I do use the internet, I know what a sub is, I've just never posted on here before so unsure of etiquette.

I used the term 'mal comms' because I couldn't be bothered typing out malicious communication and also because my anxiety has been sky high today I have been trying to find examples of what it actually is so I have been typing those two words a lot. I don't care if you think I'm genuine or not, I know I am and that's all that matters.
Enjoy your evening