On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog

There have been a few articles in the news lately about how careful we should all be about who we deal with or talk to online. These come up from time to time. Older men who lure young girls into a meeting while portraying themselves as someone the same age. But the recent one about the suicide death of a young girl due to a friendship she formed on Facebook, is particularly nasty. A young girl formed a friendship on Facebook with a boy called Josh Evans. He communicated with her for some time (sorry, I can't remember if it was a couple of weeks or months) but then suddenly turned nasty and told her that the world would be a better place without her. She was devastated and hung herself. Now this is tragic but all the more because Josh Evans was really a 47 old mother who was trying to hurt this girl because she had moved on and left her daughter out of her old life. Unfortunately, no charges can be laid against this woman.

Another article I read was very bizarre. A 48 year old man was posing as an 18 year old marine in a chat group. He struck up a friendship with an 18 year old student. But she wasn't 18 either, but a 50 year old woman! The woman was also friends with a 22 year old (who was really 22). Eighteen months into the relationship, the 48 year old's wife read the emails from the 18 year old girl (really 50 year old) and emailed her and told her he was a married man with two teenaged girls. The 50 year old dropped him because of this and turned all her attentions to the 22 year old. So the dumped man hunted down the 22 year old (the only one telling the truth here) and killed him.

Which all goes to show you that unless you know who you are dealing with, then be very careful. The delightful cartoon left by Peter Steiner says it all.