I have a fake Facebook account I use to browse things. You may not know this, but when you browse someone on Facebook, they may get a "people you may know" friends suggestion of you, which can be awkward if it's an old girlfriend or classmate you just want to look at, but don't really want to make any connection.
For this reason, I made a fake Facebook with a random picture and a random name, so this way I can maintain privacy browsing people's profiles. I don't use it that often -- only as necessary. I don't ever message anyone or post anything with it.
Well, I got a message from a woman tonight, and I had to determine whether her story was real.
Here were her claims:
- She has been looking for a guy she used to date, who has the exact same name as my fake account.
- The guy in my picture (which she assumed was me) looks a lot like the guy she used to date.
- The guy she's looking for was her boyfriend when she was 14-15 way back in 1989-1990. Both of them are now 45.
- She's from Illinois, just as she was back then, and wants to know if I'm the same dude.
It's important to know that I did NOT use the pic of any guy with the same name. I grabbed a random pic from somewhere (I forget where), and I made up a random name. The two are not associated at all, so if this guy looks like the one she dated years ago, it's a coincidence (or she's lying/engaging in wishful thinking).
Before I tell the rest, I'll ask you to guess two things:
1) Is it a scammer?
2) Did I pretend to be this dude, or admit right away that I'm not him, and that this is a burner account?