Wednesday, October 28, 2015

We live in an interesting age, of the internet and social media, of cyber-criminals and the potential loss of trust in who someone is and what their intent is based on the same.

I say this as this week has seen a minor upheaval in my personal and professional life as my personal Facebook profile was hacked on Sunday, with the perpetrator stealing my profile picture and cover photo and using them to create a new profile named "Anthony James Walz." This cyber-criminal then proceeded to attempt to friend all of my Facebook friends, and for whatever reason 70 of them accepted his friend request.  Then he began private messaging them, trying to get them interested in some scam (see screen shot from one of my Facebook friends of this scam attempt). One of my friends reported this to Facebook, and then I did, too, and the fake profile was taken down in short order.  One of my other friends also had someone, apparently in tandem with Mr. "Walz," attempt to get personal information from them at the same  time.

Then yesterday (Tuesday) Facebook took down my account, messaging me to say that there was some concern that I was not who I was saying I was.  I have had to send them a jpg of my drivers license so they can verify my identity, so I assume my account will be restored in due time.  I mention this on my professional blog here because I have not used this blog very much lately, using my professional Facebook page instead to post updates of my various projects and to connect with people.  However, because that page is linked to my personal profile, it has also been taken down currently, hence my feeling that I should let folks know what is going on.  I hope it is all resolved soon.

If anyone needs to contact me they can comment here on this blog, or email or call me directly. Thank you very much for understanding about my having to deal with one of the vagaries of modern life!
Tony