Don’t be Too Quick to Believe What You Read Online

Some years ago, a company, (I’ll call it Mush,Ltd) hired a man (I’ll name C.G.)  whose achievements had been listed on a Website he had supplied to them as part of his resume.

Mush was impressed, and hired him.   His name was soon emblazoned on their web page.  C.G. was listed, his achievements copied and pasted from the previous Webpage,  and anyone who happened upon that page would be dazzled by such a highly qualified person.

After a time, Mush,Ltd had one of those violent upheavals, common in many businesses.  There was a huge shake-up in leadership and a redirection. People were discharged, positions were reworked.

C.G. was one of those persons who was discharged.

However, there was no tampering with the Webpage.     It had been created about ten years ago and only occasionally looked it.  It was ignored by the senior members.

There was no reference to the Web Page during the upheaval, so it continued to list particular persons, including C.G. as a senior officer of Mush, Ltd.

C.G., who had been found to have submitted false qualifications as the Webpage he had referenced was his own creation, and was asked to leave, still existed on that Web Page.

He knew it, but the others did nothing about it.

C.G. knew how people would read something online and accept it as true so  used Mush’s Web page as proof he still worked for Mush.  He used that Web Page on his own web site.  He made it seem that something he had done at Mush over four years ago had been done last month.

Using his own Web Page, (again) and Mush, Ltd’s Web Page,  he obtained another job.

The company to which he was now employed absolutely believed the veracity of the Web Page of Mush and tht of C.G. as they tied in so well there was no hint of fraud.

Although you may think that a Web Page isn’t proof of anything, there is a huge population which absolutely believes every single word it reads on a Web Page.

The fact an event happened in 2010 can be changed to 2016.  An event that occurred four years ago can be replaced  so that it seems it was last month.   Doing this is simple.   And common.

Yet, people will bet their lives on the veracity of a Web Page.   They will absolutely believe almost anything they read.

Whether one wants to look at the (in) famous Ulsterman Report, or the recent posts by Macedonians on Facebook, (which has caused quite a ruckus and obtained the sobriquet, ‘Fakebook’)  people believe what they see and do no further checks.

So a Scammer, who obtained a position with Mush, Ltd. based on a false set of ‘qualifications’ published on a Webpage was able to continue his trail by using Mush, Ltd and his own page to gain the next position.