Certain occupations have always been viewed with scorn. Think tax collectors and SARS employees, then think of a job with a worse reputation.

If you happened to think of ISIS recruiters then congratulations, you’ve hit the motherload. Imagine a Cape Town woman’s horror when she found out her identity and picture was being bandied around on Facebook, amidst allegations she was recruiting local teenagers for the terrorist organisation.

45-year-old Berenice Vietri was chatting away on Facebook when she suddenly came under fire from a user she wasn’t familiar with. News24 reports:

“He had compiled an identikit of myself and he wrote my name and my surname on there, saying this is the woman who recruited the 15-year-old for ISIS”…

The so-called troll, operating from a fake Facebook profile, then flooded her Facebook inbox with numerous messages…written in capitals and [containing] obscene and sexually explicit language, images and threats. The troll uses male pronouns, calls himself God and Troll, refers to the complainant as Zombie and claims to have orchestrated the deaths of people here and overseas.

“It was terrible. He kept telling me he has got a bullet with my name on it. He said he is in control of my life and he is going to wipe me out and he is going to be the last man standing.”

Vietri became extremely stressed following the online attack, eventually blocking the user’s profile and handing over all the information she could gather to the police. A case of common assault has since been opened and an investigation is under way.

It’s sad to think that there are people out there who get their kicks from this kind of behaviour, and it is another example of just how easily people can manipulate our online presence. With that in mind it is worth getting acquainted with the guys over at This Is Me, who are revolutionising the ease with which we can take ownership of our online profiles.

[source:news24]