When I was much younger and more gullible, I was friends with someone on a forum. This person suddenly stopped posting and vanished. Well, myself and a few others became worried. Suddenly a new username appeared and claimed to be the person’s sister, and told us the person had tried to commit suicide, then proceeded to hang around while we all talked about how worried we were. I realize years later it was most likely the same person, so desperate for attention that she manipulated our emotions to see if we would be upset if something like this happened.

And it isn’t the only case. I’ve never been involved again but over the years I’ve heard from people I know of at least 5 cases of someone doing something similar- creating multiple accounts to pull off a hoax like this, faking sickness, death, a car accident, or something along those lines- always tragic. Most of the time the truth came out in the end.

It’s just so cruel, and so twisted and pathetic.

Great friendships and relationships can be forged online, but always be careful and try not to invest too much emotionally into it. People will prey on you.