#they have proof with emails and call logs

[tanglepelt]

Dc x idea 124

Sam and Danny do a student exchange program. Danny was Volvontold to do it by mr.lancer who got his parents to agree. Sam’s parents were more then happy to force her to do it. The school she was being sent to had a Wayne.

Tucker would be staying back in amity to help Valarie with the ghosts.

The two amity Parker’s quickly caught attention at the transfer school. The two kept to themselves and wanted nothing to do with it. At one point they were caught bad mouthing the justice league. That caught attention especially from Damian Wayne.

Danny: it’s not that we don’t like hero’s

Sam: it’s that they claim to give a shit but don’t! That hotline is bs. Nothing comes from it.

Damian: they deal with world ending crisis not small time crime from a town in Illinois.

Danny: duh. Dude we don’t call when box ghost is stealing all the shoe boxes. Or when spectra did her hospital gig yet again. Then the time lunch lady decided it was mandatory meatloaf Monday and-

Sam: *elbowing Danny* we’ve only called with potential world ending threats. Like when the ghost king yoinked our town into the ghost zone and threatened to destroy earth without the return of his ring. Then the time undergrowth was going to feed our entire town to his plants then move on to the world.

Danny: don’t forget technus. Know how last month how phones, tvs and most electronics only were displaying a green face screaming of taking over the world. It only lasted like what 2 mins for you guys. But man that was a rough week for us.

Sam: Tucker got a hold of someone just for them to laugh In his face despite offering proof and video footage.

Sam/Danny: we’ll keep bad mouthing the justice league. Deal with it.

Sam: besides we have a much better heros then the justice league. Two of them who actually care.

[artyandink]

let me explain.

ok, In the light of this, I seriously need to defend myself because I've been trying to explain myself and clearly I'm being put as more insane. I'm trying to provide proof, everyone is denying it, I'm losing the rest of my friends, I'm ending it. 

I've not been on any of my accounts except Whatsapp since around towards the beginning of December. This is because my grandfather had a heart attack and needed a heart bypass. I'm sure I don't need proof of him in the hospital in India with me with him. That would just be sick. However, I can provide my location history vs the login records .

Another thing is that I don't EVER go anonymous when sending in an ask. EVER. I haven't ever gone on anyone's account and sent in an ask that is me anonymously sending in something. 

As for the hacker situation, my only explanation is that it's someone I know. My passwords are the same for ALL my accounts, and currently my Insta is blowing up because people have been sent horrible messsages in the past week from someone who they believe is me. It's not. 

I arrived a week back from India and had taken that week to relax and take time off any social media so I could then call to check up on my family. When I log back on, fics and bots had been posted that I'd talked about to multiple people in my IRL inner circle and my user had been changed to daniisms when I DON'T HAVE A FRIEND NAMED DANI.

Nor do I have depression! And I don't copy people either! And my logs for logins on Tumblr say that they happened in Waltham Forest. I live in Bristol, which is 3 and 1/2 hours away.

another thing is that I got a Google alert saying that the email that I used to sign into Discord might have had a suspicious sign in. I’d signed in to check emails that day, but I didn’t realise it meant that someone had signed into my account on an unrecognised device.

I blanked out my email for pretty obvious reasons.

And, lastly, did anyone miss this???

I EXPLICITLY SAID I'D BE GONE FOR A FAMILY EMERGENCY.

This, I feel like, is proof that I HAVE NOT BEEN ONLINE SINCE EVEN BEFORE DEC 9TH. I'VE NOT BEEN HERE SINCE NOV 30TH. THIS IS NOT ME. I DON’T EVEN KNOW THE HALF OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED CAUSE NO ONE WILL EXPLAIN IT.

Also, may I add, anyone who is talking about Dahlia behind her back, STOP FUCKING NOW. I don't care who you are, or if you unfollow me, I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! None of this is her fault, it's mine for putting the same password for everything. So stop, turn around and go back to your own lives.

[mariacallous]

In 2022 I wrote an op-ed for NBC News Think about leg hair, of all things. The piece detailed a monthlong experiment during which I stopped shaving. Aside from one paragraph about bodily autonomy and Roe v. Wade, I thought it was a mild article. Boring, even.

The internet disagreed. Within an hour of publication, I started getting angry, all-caps emails. Then it started on Twitter. I was called everything from stupid and self-absorbed to a Sasquatch. I was accused of hating men and pressuring women.

The deluge lasted nearly two weeks. By the end of it, I had dozens of nasty emails, nearly a thousand social media notifications, and zero idea how to handle what I’d experienced.

Unfortunately, these instances of online harassment are becoming more common. In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported that 41 percent of US adults had experienced online harassment; the Anti-Defamation League reported an increase to 52 percent in 2023. Public and semipublic figures are especially at risk, as noted by recent studies on American journalists, Zimbabwean journalists, and female members of parliament in Sweden.

But the truth is, on social media anyone with an account can experience harassment. Here’s what to do if it happens to you.

Document Everything

Knee-deep in hate mail, I reached out to a former thesis adviser who’d written op-eds. How had he handled the trolls?

His reply: Document everything. If you have to report the harassment to a social platform or to law enforcement, you will need a body of evidence that proves the harassment.

Save the nasty emails in a special folder, either manually or by using keywords to filter and route all of the relevant mail automatically.

On social media, screenshot what people say. Doing this gives you lasting digital proof, which is important if the trolling comments disappear later on, either because the trolls deleted them or because someone reported the comments, which led to them being removed. Save all of these screenshots in a folder that can easily be shared with anyone investigating your harassment.

Documenting harassment is common advice, featured in resources ranging from writing-specific organizations like PEN America to wider organizations like the University of Chicago and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Don’t Respond

Another common piece of advice is “don’t feed the trolls.” In theory, if you don’t react to harassment, the trolls get bored and leave. Some have argued that this advice has failed us, as it puts the onus on the victim to stop the cyberbullying; it suggests that it’s not the trolls who need to stop but rather the victim who needs to turn the other cheek.

This is a fair critique; social media platforms should build better moderation systems and restrict users who breach standards on harassment. Ideally, events like the 2024 child safety hearing before US Congress will lead to changes that make the internet safer for everyone. In a perfect world, the onus is on Big Tech.

But internet safety is a work in progress, and in the meantime it’s on us to decide how we want to respond. Many of the accounts spamming me were obvious trolls. They had incendiary usernames and profile pictures. Looking at their comments, which were antagonistic at best, I knew I wouldn’t change their minds by responding. Nothing I could write would make them consider my point of view.

So I followed the American Psychological Association’s advice and let the storm pass. I logged off social media and routed the nasty emails into a special folder, out of sight. I spent my energy on things I enjoyed instead, no trolls involved.

Or Maybe Do Respond

Walking away isn’t the best option for everyone. If you choose to respond, there are both indirect and direct ways to address harassment. The former could include muting threads or blocking accounts. You could also report comments or users for behaviors that breach community standards, such as hate speech, threats, and bullying (which most platforms claim to prohibit). These options may prevent the same trolls from harassing you, or another user, in the future.

If you feel safe and want to respond directly, consider counterspeech, a strategy that addresses and undermines hate by redirecting the conversation in a constructive way. Some choose to reclaim hashtags, such as the K-pop stans who in 2020 flooded the #WhiteLivesMatter hashtag with K-pop videos.

Others create larger discussions around hateful posts, typically focusing not on the troll but on the content of their argument (so, not “You’re sexist” but “Saying XYZ is problematic because …”). This is exactly what I did, some six months after my experience, when I wrote about hate mail for HuffPost, focusing on sexism and the importance of dismantling it. Reframing the conversation helped me feel less powerless.

Though organizations like the United Nations recommend counterspeech, some research has suggested that it may be ineffective: While a 2021 study on anti-Asian hate found that counterspeech discouraged hate, another study on racism and homophobia saw mixed results.

Do Something You Enjoy

Whether or not you respond, give yourself time to work through your feelings. Do something you enjoy, like going to the gym, meditating, or playing your favorite video game. Anything goes!

Social support, in particular, is important for processing your experiences. This is because one of the goals of online harassment is to make you feel isolated; intentionally enjoying time with loved ones can combat this. An older 2014 study noted that social support can come from anyone in your life, ranging from your peers to your family. More recently, a 2020 study listed the myriad benefits of social support for those experiencing bullying, including increased confidence and decreased anxiety.

So text your friends and coworkers. Make dinner plans with family. Rant to your partner—or ask for a distraction. Any and all of these can help you feel less alone. You can also seek professional advice via a therapist or a cyberbullying hotline.

If you decide to take an extended break from the internet, ask a friend you trust to keep an eye on your social accounts. They can continue to take screenshots of new harassment and notify you if the frequency of incidents increases.

If the Harassment Escalates

If rude comments turn into stalking, hacking, doxing, or death threats, it’s time to contact the authorities and get legal assistance. Continue to document everything; you’ll want a body of proof to ensure you’re taken seriously. If you’re in immediate danger, call emergency services.

Practicing good cyber hygiene can help you protect your information. To deter hackers, use strong passwords, which are longer than 16 characters and include numbers and special characters. Don’t reuse passwords, and set up multifactor authentication to ensure that you’re notified if someone tries to log in to your account.

To deter doxing, stalking, and further harassment, adjust your privacy settings on social media. If possible, set your accounts to private until the storm passes. Also, depending on the platform, you should be able to limit the ability to reply to your posts so that only people you follow can republish your posts or leave comments. You can also just disallow comments entirely. If you have both professional and personal accounts, keep them separate so that work-related harassment is less likely to follow you home.

You may want to limit who can see your location data on social media, since many platforms tag every post with geolocation data unless you opt out. This is usually something you can turn off in your profiles’ privacy settings. Additionally, browser extensions like Privacy Party can help you keep your privacy settings on social media up to date automatically, so you don't have to think about it.

If things get so bad that you feel it's safest to minimize or erase your digital footprint, paid services like Delete Me can remove identifying information like your address, phone number, and social media activity from hundreds of online databases and data brokers. This makes it much harder for people to uncover this information in web searches. Services like Tweet Delete can automatically delete years worth of social media posts, replies, and likes—either wholesale or within a specific range—from your accounts.

Online harassment can be isolating and terrifying, but with a plan, you’ll be prepared to respond—and to mitigate its impacts on your life.

[orionis13]

Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, and I have decided that to “celebrate” I will be contacting my representatives every day for the next 8 days to call for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, and I urge you to do the same. There are countless easily accessible templates for emails, phone calls, and letters that take less than 5 minutes to complete and put pressure on our reps, who are aiding and abetting a literal genocide. If you are able, you can also donate to reputable esim providers (the Cartoonist Cooperative has really easy links, and you can get art) to keep people connected thru internet blackouts

As incentive, I am offering a fullbody colored sketch to anyone who chooses to dm me after these 8 days with proof of contact with their reps (dated screenshots of emails, dated call logs, etc. just nothing with your personal info). This is not a large scale, highly organized project; this is just an option that hopefully inspires you to take consistent action.

I think there is a horrible irony in the Zionist love of Chanukah; how can you see yourself represented in a story about standing against oppressors and still enact the same violent oppression against those you deem lesser. You are not a hero, you are not brave, you are a coward laughing as people are murdered in your name, and your memory will only bring shame

The real bravery is that of the Palestinian people, who despite the odds stacked against them continue to survive. This is far more in the spirit of a holiday about resistance than a celebration of genocide will ever be.

We will not be silent. We will not give up on the people of Palestine. They will survive and be free.

I hope this is clear enough to make sense to people, please feel free to let me know any questions/concerns you may have. Chag sameach

[gremlingirlsmell]

i log into my health insurance website to get the pdf that i can use instead of the card. because I don't have a card. they rejected my photo last time because "the person depicted doesn't match our data".

at the top of the website is a large yellow warning: "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!" I make a photo and submit it to the website. I get my pdf and leave the website.

a month passes and i need a new pdf, it's only valid for a month.

i log into my health insurance website to get the pdf that i can use instead of the card. because I don't have a card. they rejected my photo last time because "the person depicted doesn't match our data".

at the top of the website is a large yellow warning: "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!" annoyed i make one and send them the new photo. I get my pdf and leave the website.

a month passes and i need a new pdf, it's only valid for a month.

i log into my health insurance website to get the pdf that i can use instead of the card. because I don't have a card. they rejected my photo last time because "the person depicted doesn't match our data".

at the top of the website is a large yellow warning: "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!" annoyed i send them the one from last time but crop it exactly to their standards, maybe then they stop complaining. I desperately search the website or support for any way to submit to them an ID or something, but nothing. everything links back to the photo submission form. i write them an email asking them how i can send them proof. I get my pdf and leave the website.

a month passes and i need a new pdf, it's only valid for a month. I haven't heard anything back from them about my email.

i log into my health insurance website to get the pdf that i can use instead of the card. because I don't have a card. they rejected my photo last time because "the person depicted doesn't match our data".

website. "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!" resend photo. "the person depicted doesn't match our data". make a new photo. "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!" check my email. no response yet. "the person depicted doesn't match our data" they try to call me while i sleep, despite me telling them in my email that i cant take calls due to health reasons. "You still need to send us a photo, so that we can send you your new card!"

[merl-out]

Breaking Customer Promises and The Harms of Online Business

I ordered a laptop from BestBuy on sale. The next day, I received an email that the order was cancelled. I pulled up a chat to ask why exactly my order was cancelled.

They don't deliver to hotels.

Okay. Sure.

I asked if I could change the address to my work place and was told to fully re-order everything and I would receive a refund for the post-sale price difference. Okay. Sure.

I received the laptop, and it wouldn't turn on.

I took it to my nearest BestBuy. They swap it out easy as pie. I think to myself, "I should've just gone here from the beginning."

Ah, but no matter. I have a laptop and it works great!

I wait a week. No refund. I call them. They assure me, I'll receive an e-mail with the refund in 48-72 hours. Okay. Sure.

I wait another week, just to give them space to process the influx of end of year orders. No refund. I call them again. "The billing cycle takes a month," they tell me, "the refund will come in around 30 days."

Okay. Sure.

It's been four months, friends, and I finally reach out again. Armed with my case ID number, three BestBuy supplied chat logs of customer service agents promising me my refund, a free day and a whole lot of righteous fury. How could they deny me this? I explain all of this to John, the customer service agent. And what does he say to me?

"Sorry to hear this, it is very disappointing, however I will try to resolve your issue as soon as possible. I would like to inform you that, we do not have an option to honor the price match for the old price for canceled order."

…What? Excuse me? I explain again, "They've all told me differently. I have evidence of your company representatives promising me this refund."

"I’m truly sorry to hear about your experience and I’m sorry you are having to face this issue. Please accept our sincere apology for the inconvenience caused and incorrect information provided by previous agent. As it is canceled order we do not have an option to honor the previous sale price." John tells me, merciless.

But it wasn't just one agent, I argue. I have proof. They all told me the same thing. So, I Karen. I admit it, I tell him, "Let me speak to a supervisor."

"I can surely arrange for a supervisor, but I want to let you know that I've thoroughly investigated all potential solutions in this situation. Believe me, if there were any available options to provide you with refund, I would have already taken care of it. Getting a supervisor wouldn't have been necessary since I've already explored this option on your behalf." John tells me.

And here's the thing, friends, I do believe him. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, even though he's complicit in stealing money from me, but in the words of an anachronistic Anne Boleyn, like what was I supposed to do? What's the worst thing that can happen, John, if I ask to speak to your manager? Explain it to me.

Is it a waste of my time? Four months after the theft occurred, to chase down $430 like some cadaver dog sniffing up and down a river after the frost melted to see if I can pick up on a trail? After four months, will one more conversation, one more long shot, really be the straw that breaks my back?? At worst, what will happen, John? Will I waste more company time? Good. I hope I waste at least $430 of company time. Frankly, I hope I waste more.

A supervisor is reviewing the chat logs now before they get back to me. They're a floor supervisor, but they didn't provide a name. Pray for me, friends.

[namor-the-sub]

I’m about to start keeping a running log of work calls. I can’t with these people today.

So far:

Call 1: called wrong department checking on the status of an order they didn’t pay for yet.

Call 2: another person cheated by the unfair shift of RGB to CMYK who wanted us to fix it immediately and ship 25 hardcover custom printed books with a one day turn around.

(Got Nam flashbacks since I just unloaded a crazy person who complained about our commercial grade print quality after comparing it to a “superior” FedEx spiral bound book that used completely different substrates. Good luck mass producing that.)

Call 3:

Them: “I’m taking a look at my proofs and I noticed the designer used the image I asked them to use. So that means I can use it, right?”

Me: *already knows where this going* �� What do you mean?”

Them: “well I found it online when I was searching Google so I assumed it’s fine to use. Since it’s in the proof now I guess that means I can use it.”

(This happens A LOT too. People assume that because they can find it on Google, it’s free use for a self-published book cover. We have to then gently explain copy and usage rights. This is after the client specifically signed an Intellectual Property Rights disclaimer prior to check out certifying they created all of the content.)

Now onto email time and brief reprieve from today’s nonsense.

[orphancookie69]

Disney Dreamlight Valley: Dreamsnaps

So, Disney Dreamlight Valley came out with something called Dreamsnaps. It is a weekly photo submission competition to earn free moonstones. This has pro's and con's, but this was-to me-one of the first unique things this game did. But, like anything else regarding this game, there was not much explained about it.

Before we even get to the ability to do a Dreamsnap, this will start with Venellope's quest. She is glitching and you take a photo and submit it to "fix" her and that starts your dreamsnap journey.

So on Week 1, Dreamsnap Wednesday's, you get a prompt. It will either be a Decoration Challenge or an Outfit Challenge. I noticed a trend where it alternates Decor one week, then Outfit the next week. There will be 2-3 Mandatory tags you have to hit, and 2 Suggested tags. You can sort furniture or clothes by the tags. Every system has a different button for this, but I myself play on Nintendo Switch. Once you are ready to go-you take a photo and click "Submit Dreamsnap". There is also a Dreamsnap Tab in the start menu.

On Week 2, you vote for the submissions you like best. There is no limit to how many votes you cast, you will look at 2 photos and click which one you like better. The minimum amount of voting will get you 50 moonstones per week.

On Week 3, you get your results from that particular challenge in your mailbox (in game). You will get a score, based on how well you hit the mark for the mandatory/suggested tags, and a ranking based on people's votes. The rewards are varying amounts of moonstones and pixel dust. The pixel dust adds up and helps you level up from level 1 to level 10. There is a reward at every level, with a big trophy at level 10. At the time of writing this, I am at Level 9.

The catch is this is ongoing with a new challenge coming weekly. So on any given week you are voting on something, while submitting something else, while receiving the results of something else entirely. So I started keeping track of what challenge was what, the scores, and my submissions. It is possible to send the photo you are planning to submit to your phone, but you need to do so after you take it but before you submit it. Once you take a photo, there is now way to look at previous photos taken to send it to your phone. You send it by way of scanning a QR code.

Now, at the time of writing this post, and since I have been playing since the beginning of the prerelease-I have done 32 dreamsnaps. One would think that by now, I might know what I am doing? If you ask my mom, who I help each week with the submissions, I am a great dreamsnap teacher. But my scores are all over the place, so I decided to look at the numbers and see what a proper analysis would tell me.

For me, I treat every dreamsnap as if its both decor and outfit, hoping that will help my score. One of the problems is, one part of the "win" is objective and the other part of the "win" is subjective. I also have played this since the beginning, which means I have a fully decorated Valley-there is a limit on how many items you can have and I am under it but just barely, but its not like its a baren wasteland. Also, you can not have any "Touch of Magic" items in your photo. No custom creations can be seen or unseen, this goes for clothes or furniture. Having characters from the Valley in with you seems to help, you can also do different poses with different animals when in camera mode. The premium shop changes on Wednesday's as well, save up for the good stuff there.

The Proof is in the Numbers:

I logged my results on a note on my phone, emailed them to myself, and put them into a google sheet. Here is what I found:

For combined outfit/decor

I average a 45.47 score

I average a 56,914 ranking

I average 554 moonstones

I average 139 pixel dust

For Outfit alone,

I average a 48.12 score

I average a 54,096 ranking

I average 646 moonstones

I average 142 pixel dust

For Decor alone,

I average a 42.99 score

I average a 59,556 ranking

I average 468 moonstones

I average 137 pixel dust

My Best Dreamsnap:

My best submission is Winter's Here (#24). An outfit challenge, 77.59 score, 11,114 ranking, 2500 moonstones, and 178 pixels.

My Worst Dreamsnap:

My worst submission is Arendelle's Showcase (#25). A decoration challenge, 26.72 score, 85,353 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 127 pixel dust.

Best Decoration Dreamsnap:

My best one is actually one earlier, but I was not saving them at the time. The one I can show is Holiday Cheer (#21). Decor challenge, 56.87 score, 58,567 ranking, 600 moonstones, and 157 Pixel Dust.

Worst Decoration Dreamsnap:

The worst one is It Came From Outer Space (#27). Decor Challenge, 23.85 score, 59,242 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 124 pixel dust.

Best Outfit Dreamsnap:

While my best submission ever is already posted, I will show this one that was my higest ranking one. A Day at Disney (#22). Outfit challenge, 57.46 score, 15,289 ranking, 1500 moonstones, and 158 pixel dust.

Worst Outfit Dreamsnap:

My worst one is not saved, maybe a good thing in retrospect? But I will show you Under The Sea (#20). Outfit challenge, 32.46 score, 85,575 ranking, 300 moonstones, and 133 pixel dust.

Tips:

No touch of magic items

Make sure Decor and Outfit are on point

Bring in characters

Pose with pets

Buy clothes and furniture, you never know when you are going to need what.

Pay attention to the premium shop, you never know when you could use the stuff there.

Hoard supplies to be able to make stuff at a crafting table to be able to use for photos.

Decorate the valley, within the limit.

Use all the options in the camera: poses, shot types, filters, frames.

This was an interesting dive into whether or not the system is rigged or what I could do better. If you want to look at your own scores, take a look at your mailbox. What tips and tricks would you add to this post?

[icewindandboringhorror]

Daily Log 4

Trying out (probably just temporarily) making short daily-ish notes about things, in an attempt to see if it helps me be more reflective or productive lol.

Activities: Woke up late because I went back to sleep with a headache briefly, then kind of struggled to focus all day ToT

Worked more on the aforementioned tapestry/painting type of thing. I've done the base layer of painting for the main image, now I'm lining in darker outlines. I wanted to finish the center art before getting into the intricate borders. Still haven't translated the text lol..

Made a small bowl and also a little box with a lid out of more avocado pits. Still just with random nail cuticle tool things and kitchen knives, as I don't have proper carving tools.

Finished editing and proofreading the new poll adventure post!! I don't have time to post it tonight because I need to get to sleep early but.. I have it Completely 100% Ready.. finally..

Also washed the clothes I got together yesterday. Called about the bloodwork. Sent an email to a doctor.

Reviewed some writing documents to get back into my game maybe?? (basically, I started working on a visual novel type game a few years ago, decided it was a huge project so kind of put it on the backburner for a while in favor of things that were more easily finishable/tangible. then later on a game website I play (similar to neopets or something, there are collectable little creatures, etc.) there was an opportunity for me to design a pet on site, so I made a smaller shorter visual novel centered around that, where people on the site have to play the game in order to earn the pet, and I have a google form for them to answer a few short questions about it. All of the feedback is quite positive (reached 200 responses a while ago! though still only like 4 comments on the itch.io page lol.. Mandatory Form vs. Optional Comments evil showdown), but sometimes I get commentary that's really enthusiastic and inspires me to start back working on the OTHER bigger game. The small game was kind of like, a proof of concept that was safe because I had a guaranteed audience, that has helped me gain more insight for the larger one.

Anyway, since I've abandoned the Main Large Game for so long, I have to re-read and review/probably rewrite A LOT of things just to pick it back up again as A Thing I'm Actively Working On, so it's another one of those tasks that I do maybe 45 minutes of and then realize it's going to take days and days and get discouraged lol..

Notable sights: Saw two cats in windows. No clovers. It rained a little today but I didn't get to go outside and see it. One of the pieces of asparagus in the fridge was like the size of a carrot, comically overgrown downright ridiculous looking asparagus. Maybe I'll get taller after eating it.

Goals moving forward: Consistent sleep schedule. Focus on social activities, finding new friends in the places I want to move, communicating with ones I have. Physical therapy exercises. Plant nasturtiums. Finish and upload videos, edit costume pictures & etc.

Notable foods: ASPARAGUS AGAIN BABEY.. yeaAAAAGHHH asparagus squad !!!!!!

[lupismaris]

I realize that as an Admin my purpose in this office is to support others by doing grunt work and I am happy to do that grunt work (mailing, shipping, filing, calling, figuring out the logistics to do weird frustrating things that we haven't done before) but it comes with the expectation, nay, the hope that my colleagues who get paid SIGNIFICANTLY more than me will at least do the bare minimum of showing up or checking their emails in an 8 hours span and answering questions like "hey what's the FedEx log in since you're the only one who has it and refuses to let anyone else make use of it for some bizarre reason other than your imagined self importance and have now disappeared off the face of the earth for two months leaving me to make another FedEx business account in my own name so I can ship out proofs to the printers on time"

[aceparagoned]

out of uniform: sorry for not being around too much during the weekend. in regards to the post i made to explain some things, i decided to venture down memory lane, so to speak, about an incident mentioned in that post that i feel like the authors of the callout made about me thought that i was the sole person responsible for said incident when i wasn't. others also participated in the mess, so they are also at fault here. so this is my attempt to set things straight.

i'll discuss it further under the cut.

I've spent the past weekend combing through posts in relation to in 2011 where I've been accused of accusing someone of being a rapist, which turned out to be a false identification on someone else's part. Now, none of this is to absolve me of my involvement in the matter by trying to gather what information I could on the accused. It's here that I was, and I quote, a "dumbass plurk witch hunter" by participating in these two long-deleted plurks that, to my knowledge, have no archive elsewhere (Pastebin wasn't as commonly used back then to archive plurks for evidence down the line, and I have no idea how to search through that site to see if it's still archived, especially since the person could have set an expiration timer on it.) Again, this is just so that I can set things straight to where I wasn't the sole person responsible for this mess back in 2011.

This is the thread where I, and other people, were called a "dumbass plurk witch hunter" (playagame is one of my very old plurk accounts that has a lot of shit on it that I wish I never put out there) and the very last comment on the thread was from me saying that I did send him a PM to apologize. Evidence of this apology, though, was deleted by LiveJournal themselves because I know that I tend to not mass delete things, even if they're years old at this point. I also confirmed again, this time on my very old plurk account, that I had sent him an apology. (Please disregard the last comment I, as FREE☠JOKER made there since at the time, I had the emotional sympathy of a dumbass.) For even further proof that I apologized to him, here's a cap I took of my archived LJ post hosted on my Dreamwidth account. I am also still trying to log in to my Dropbox account where I at least have the conversation saved from Trillian and not LiveJournal.

This is the extent of my involvement where I tried to dig up information on him, but I was not the one who made the very false connection between him and the TC in question. This is from a private conversation I had with one of my friends that has known me since I was a cringy ass preteen who thought they knew everything about the world when, in fact, I knew nothing. If you'd like the full conversation for full context, then I don't mind providing it.

However, I did find these two posts from an account, whyljrpwhy, that is veritably not mine by a long shot. Whenever I made a new account, I tended to use keywords for my icons like these while whyljrpwhy uses keywords like these for their icons. That, and I've never had the email mostlybutthurt@priest.com before. I've normally used AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail for pretty much everything.

This originally was hosted on tumblr in the form of these PSAs: (this one has the link to the fandomsecrets post where the warning was crossposted here.) In the thread itself, you'll see where whyljrpwhy had some supremely bad takes in general for the whole situation that they were rightfully called out for, even when speaking to the TC that had been falsely accused of something as serious as this.

Once again, this post in no way absolves me of what I did back in 2011. I fully acknowledge what I did was wrong by trying to gather information on an individual that had nothing in common with the person being warned about, only that they both shared the alias TC. I've since tried, and still do try, my best to be the best person I can and learn from my mistakes.

Thank you, once again, for reading this post. Hopefully this is the last time I need to address this.

[notebooknebula]

Meet The $100 Million Underdog, Pamela Bardhi with Jay Conner, The Private Money Authority

Key Takeaways

How Pamela went from having over $100k in debt to achieving a 9-figure real estate career

Discovering why business is 100% a spiritual game

How Pamela drastically transformed her career trajectory through real estate

The life-changing power of private money to kickstart Pamela’s real estate career

Must-hear advice for attracting private money to your life

Taking the steps to map out your dream life

The importance of aligning your mind, body, and spirit

In today’s show of Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner, Pamela Bardhi joins Jay to empower the world through real estate, building different revenue streams, and igniting the Underdog in all of us.

Pamela Bardhi, the Real Estate Underdog, has been named by TIME Magazine as a Trailblazer in the Real Estate Industry. She went from delivering pizzas to a 9-figure real estate career featured in Forbes & Time Magazine by 28 years old.

She is a real estate developer by trade and has transitioned into becoming a real estate and life strategist through coaching, speaking, and building an international real estate team.

She hosts a world-renowned podcast called, Underdog, which is in the top 1.5% of podcasts in the world and streamed in 65+ countries.

She is fully dedicated to encouraging the world and igniting the fire in all of us. Real Stories, Real Hustle, Real Journeys. That is what she is all about.

Pamela has sold, developed, or acquired over $100 Million in Real Estate Assets in the Boston, MA market over the last decade. Her educational background includes Stonehill College, Babson College & Harvard Business School.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

0:20 – Today’s guest: Pamela Bardhi

3:28 – Pamela Bardhi’s Start-Up In The Real Estate Business

6:49 – Pamela Bardhi, The Real Estate Underdog – https://www.theunderdogshow.com

9:06 – Business Is A Spiritual Game

15:21 – What Are You Most Passionate About Right Now?

18:07 – Early Struggles & Lessons Learned

20:54 – Best Ways To Raising Private Money

24:45 – Jay’s Free Private Money Guide: https://www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide

25:58 – How To Maintain Your Drive & Motivation

30:17 – Importance of Having Multiple Streams of Income

31:59 – Connect with Pamela Bardhi – https://www.PamelaBardhi.com email: pamela@themoschegroup.com

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What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner

https://www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast

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What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

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[errant-ezra]

I work in IT and have some recommendations that can help prevent scams like this!

1. Never follow a direct link unless you’re 100% sure it goes where it says it will go (for example, if you just signed up for a service and it sent you a confirmation link, that’s ok because it’s one that you are expecting. Even then, I recommend hovering over the link if you’re on desktop to make sure the url matches what it says it is). If you’re not sure, go to your browser and go to the site directly instead of clicking the link.

2. Make sure everything lines up. Are there misspellings? Does the email address make sense? When you hover over the sender, does it match what it says it should be? If it’s from a certain service, should that service have access to this email account (ex: I don’t have any social media connected to my work account, so any emails from them sent there would be suspicious)? If any of this feels off, dig a bit deeper before going ahead with it.

3. If it’s a phone call from the bank/anything else that seems urgent but requires personal info to validate, call them directly. You can even save the phone number so that if you get a call from someone who isn’t that number but claims to be, you know something might be up.

3b. If it’s a message or call from a family member or friend, but is very vague/asks for personal info/requires you to click a link, contact them directly. I keep seeing these Facebook posts that friends get tagged in which are just a link to a “video” with a caption like “is this you?” Or “I can’t believe they’re gone.” If you see anything like that, definitely let the friend/family member who posted it know so they can change their passwords. This is less common, but I’ve also seen people talking about AI voice replications being used to scam people- calling and pretending to be a family member in an emergency. I’m not sure if this is something that’s actually happening or more of an urban legend, but if you do get a call like this, obviously don’t send them any money or share any personal info unless they’re able to first provide proof that they are who they say they are. Personally, if any of my family members were in an emergency, I doubt they would be asking for money or my card info.

4. Scams and phishing are built on social psychology. It’s much easier to feed off a person’s fear/stress than it is to hack into a system externally. Are you being given an urgent call to action? Is there a threat of negative consequences if you don’t act quickly? If so, you are very likely being scammed. Once again, try to access whatever it is from an external source (call/go to the website yourself) to validate whether the issue is real. Bank calling about fraudulent charges? Check your online banking app or call the bank back. Subscription is lapsing and you should renew now to get 20% off? Go to the site and see for yourself if that’s the case. Login from an unrecognized device? Go to the page, change the password and log out from all devices.

5. If you ever get a double login screen, close out of the site, retype the url and try again. If you click a link and it takes you to a login screen (I’m sure you’ve all realized the pattern here by now) go to the site directly and login from there.

6. If you’re at all concerned that you may have fallen for a scam, that’s ok! It happens! It’s time to change your passwords, logout of the service on all devices, and (if it’s a bank or something else with sensitive info) contact the service and inform them of the potential issue.

7. Trust your gut. While you may not be consciously aware that something is off, a lot of times there are cues that we pick up on without even realizing. If it seems even remotely fishy, it’s *always* better to be safe than sorry.

How I got scammed

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

I wuz robbed.

More specifically, I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

Here's what happened. Over the Christmas holiday, I traveled to New Orleans. The day we landed, I hit a Chase ATM in the French Quarter for some cash, but the machine declined the transaction. Later in the day, we passed a little credit-union's ATM and I used that one instead (I bank with a one-branch credit union and generally there's no fee to use another CU's ATM).

A couple days later, I got a call from my credit union. It was a weekend, during the holiday, and the guy who called was obviously working for my little CU's after-hours fraud contractor. I'd dealt with these folks before – they service a ton of little credit unions, and generally the call quality isn't great and the staff will often make mistakes like mispronouncing my credit union's name.

That's what happened here – the guy was on a terrible VOIP line and I had to ask him to readjust his mic before I could even understand him. He mispronounced my bank's name and then asked if I'd attempted to spend $1,000 at an Apple Store in NYC that day. No, I said, and groaned inwardly. What a pain in the ass. Obviously, I'd had my ATM card skimmed – either at the Chase ATM (maybe that was why the transaction failed), or at the other credit union's ATM (it had been a very cheap looking system).

I told the guy to block my card and we started going through the tedious business of running through recent transactions, verifying my identity, and so on. It dragged on and on. These were my last hours in New Orleans, and I'd left my family at home and gone out to see some of the pre-Mardi Gras krewe celebrations and get a muffalata, and I could tell that I was going to run out of time before I finished talking to this guy.

"Look," I said, "you've got all my details, you've frozen the card. I gotta go home and meet my family and head to the airport. I'll call you back on the after-hours number once I'm through security, all right?"

He was frustrated, but that was his problem. I hung up, got my sandwich, went to the airport, and we checked in. It was total chaos: an Alaska Air 737 Max had just lost its door-plug in mid-air and every Max in every airline's fleet had been grounded, so the check in was crammed with people trying to rebook. We got through to the gate and I sat down to call the CU's after-hours line. The person on the other end told me that she could only handle lost and stolen cards, not fraud, and given that I'd already frozen the card, I should just drop by the branch on Monday to get a new card.

We flew home, and later the next day, I logged into my account and made a list of all the fraudulent transactions and printed them out, and on Monday morning, I drove to the bank to deal with all the paperwork. The folks at the CU were even more pissed than I was. The fraud that run up to more than $8,000, and if Visa refused to take it out of the merchants where the card had been used, my little credit union would have to eat the loss.

I agreed and commiserated. I also pointed out that their outsource, after-hours fraud center bore some blame here: I'd canceled the card on Saturday but most of the fraud had taken place on Sunday. Something had gone wrong.

One cool thing about banking at a tiny credit-union is that you end up talking to people who have actual authority, responsibility and agency. It turned out the the woman who was processing my fraud paperwork was a VP, and she decided to look into it. A few minutes later she came back and told me that the fraud center had no record of having called me on Saturday.

"That was the fraudster," she said.

Oh, shit. I frantically rewound my conversation, trying to figure out if this could possibly be true. I hadn't given him anything apart from some very anodyne info, like what city I live in (which is in my Wikipedia entry), my date of birth (ditto), and the last four digits of my card.

Wait a sec.

He hadn't asked for the last four digits. He'd asked for the last seven digits. At the time, I'd found that very frustrating, but now – "The first nine digits are the same for every card you issue, right?" I asked the VP.

I'd given him my entire card number.

Goddammit.

The thing is, I know a lot about fraud. I'm writing an entire series of novels about this kind of scam:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

And most summers, I go to Defcon, and I always go to the "social engineering" competitions where an audience listens as a hacker in a soundproof booth cold-calls merchants (with the owner's permission) and tries to con whoever answers the phone into giving up important information.

But I'd been conned.

Now look, I knew I could be conned. I'd been conned before, 13 years ago, by a Twitter worm that successfully phished out of my password via DM:

https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/

That scam had required a miracle of timing. It started the day before, when I'd reset my phone to factory defaults and reinstalled all my apps. That same day, I'd published two big online features that a lot of people were talking about. The next morning, we were late getting out of the house, so by the time my wife and I dropped the kid at daycare and went to the coffee shop, it had a long line. Rather than wait in line with me, my wife sat down to read a newspaper, and so I pulled out my phone and found a Twitter DM from a friend asking "is this you?" with a URL.

Assuming this was something to do with those articles I'd published the day before, I clicked the link and got prompted for my Twitter login again. This had been happening all day because I'd done that mobile reinstall the day before and all my stored passwords had been wiped. I entered it but the page timed out. By that time, the coffees were ready. We sat and chatted for a bit, then went our own ways.

I was on my way to the office when I checked my phone again. I had a whole string of DMs from other friends. Each one read "is this you?" and had a URL.

Oh, shit, I'd been phished.

If I hadn't reinstalled my mobile OS the day before. If I hadn't published a pair of big articles the day before. If we hadn't been late getting out the door. If we had been a little more late getting out the door (so that I'd have seen the multiple DMs, which would have tipped me off).

There's a name for this in security circles: "Swiss-cheese security." Imagine multiple slices of Swiss cheese all stacked up, the holes in one slice blocked by the slice below it. All the slices move around and every now and again, a hole opens up that goes all the way through the stack. Zap!

The fraudster who tricked me out of my credit card number had Swiss cheese security on his side. Yes, he spoofed my bank's caller ID, but that wouldn't have been enough to fool me if I hadn't been on vacation, having just used a pair of dodgy ATMs, in a hurry and distracted. If the 737 Max disaster hadn't happened that day and I'd had more time at the gate, I'd have called my bank back. If my bank didn't use a slightly crappy outsource/out-of-hours fraud center that I'd already had sub-par experiences with. If, if, if.

The next Friday night, at 5:30PM, the fraudster called me back, pretending to be the bank's after-hours center. He told me my card had been compromised again. But: I hadn't removed my card from my wallet since I'd had it replaced. Also, it was half an hour after the bank closed for the long weekend, a very fraud-friendly time. And when I told him I'd call him back and asked for the after-hours fraud number, he got very threatening and warned me that because I'd now been notified about the fraud that any losses the bank suffered after I hung up the phone without completing the fraud protocol would be billed to me. I hung up on him. He called me back immediately. I hung up on him again and put my phone into do-not-disturb.

The following Tuesday, I called my bank and spoke to their head of risk-management. I went through everything I'd figured out about the fraudsters, and she told me that credit unions across America were being hit by this scam, by fraudsters who somehow knew CU customers' phone numbers and names, and which CU they banked at. This was key: my phone number is a reasonably well-kept secret. You can get it by spending money with Equifax or another nonconsensual doxing giant, but you can't just google it or get it at any of the free services. The fact that the fraudsters knew where I banked, knew my name, and had my phone number had really caused me to let down my guard.

The risk management person and I talked about how the credit union could mitigate this attack: for example, by better-training the after-hours card-loss staff to be on the alert for calls from people who had been contacted about supposed card fraud. We also went through the confusing phone-menu that had funneled me to the wrong department when I called in, and worked through alternate wording for the menu system that would be clearer (this is the best part about banking with a small CU – you can talk directly to the responsible person and have a productive discussion!). I even convinced her to buy a ticket to next summer's Defcon to attend the social engineering competitions.

There's a leak somewhere in the CU systems' supply chain. Maybe it's Zelle, or the small number of corresponding banks that CUs rely on for SWIFT transaction forwarding. Maybe it's even those after-hours fraud/card-loss centers. But all across the USA, CU customers are getting calls with spoofed caller IDs from fraudsters who know their registered phone numbers and where they bank.

I've been mulling this over for most of a month now, and one thing has really been eating at me: the way that AI is going to make this kind of problem much worse.

Not because AI is going to commit fraud, though.

One of the truest things I know about AI is: "we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

I trusted this fraudster specifically because I knew that the outsource, out-of-hours contractors my bank uses have crummy headsets, don't know how to pronounce my bank's name, and have long-ass, tedious, and pointless standardized questionnaires they run through when taking fraud reports. All of this created cover for the fraudster, whose plausibility was enhanced by the rough edges in his pitch - they didn't raise red flags.

As this kind of fraud reporting and fraud contacting is increasingly outsourced to AI, bank customers will be conditioned to dealing with semi-automated systems that make stupid mistakes, force you to repeat yourself, ask you questions they should already know the answers to, and so on. In other words, AI will groom bank customers to be phishing victims.

This is a mistake the finance sector keeps making. 15 years ago, Ben Laurie excoriated the UK banks for their "Verified By Visa" system, which validated credit card transactions by taking users to a third party site and requiring them to re-enter parts of their password there:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094020/http://www.links.org/?p=591

This is exactly how a phishing attack works. As Laurie pointed out, this was the banks training their customers to be phished.

I came close to getting phished again today, as it happens. I got back from Berlin on Friday and my suitcase was damaged in transit. I've been dealing with the airline, which means I've really been dealing with their third-party, outsource luggage-damage service. They have a terrible website, their emails are incoherent, and they officiously demand the same information over and over again.

This morning, I got a scam email asking me for more information to complete my damaged luggage claim. It was a terrible email, from a noreply@ email address, and it was vague, officious, and dishearteningly bureaucratic. For just a moment, my finger hovered over the phishing link, and then I looked a little closer.

On any other day, it wouldn't have had a chance. Today – right after I had my luggage wrecked, while I'm still jetlagged, and after days of dealing with my airline's terrible outsource partner – it almost worked.

So much fraud is a Swiss-cheese attack, and while companies can't close all the holes, they can stop creating new ones.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to post about it whenever I get scammed. I find the inner workings of scams to be fascinating, and it's also important to remind people that everyone is vulnerable sometimes, and scammers are willing to try endless variations until an attack lands at just the right place, at just the right time, in just the right way. If you think you can't get scammed, that makes you especially vulnerable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[trinetadetectiveagency]

Private investigators play an important role in divorce cases and settlements

Divorce is a difficult and emotionally exhausting process. It involves legal battles, financial settlements, and sometimes even child custody disputes. In many cases, hiring a detective agency in Delhi NCR can make a huge difference. Private investigators help uncover hidden truths, collect evidence, and provide clarity for legal proceedings. Trinetra Detective Agency specializes in best divorce case services in Delhi NCR, offering professional and discreet investigations for individuals facing complex divorce cases.

Why Private Investigators Are Important in Divorce Cases?

Private investigators are indispensable in collecting strong evidence for divorce settlements. Whether infidelity, hidden assets, or child custody cases are involved, the best private detective agency in Delhi NCR ensures you have the proof to make a strong case. Here are some of the key areas where private investigators assist:

1. Infidelity and Adultery Investigations

Infidelity is one of the most common reasons for divorce. A matrimonial detective agency in Delhi NCR like Trinetra conducts professional surveillance, gathers photographic and video evidence, and tracks suspicious activities to confirm or refute a spouse's loyalty.

2. Background Check Investigation in Divorce Cases

Even, the department of background check investigation in Delhi NCR might uncover a spouse's financial history, criminal records, or some hidden debts. Most people attempt to manipulate settlements by not disclosing financial information or keeping assets a secret. By conducting a proper background check, you can protect your rights and financial interests.

3. Child Custody Investigations

Child custody battles can be complex and emotionally charged. The court prioritizes the child’s welfare, and a detective agency in Gurgaon can help collect evidence about a parent’s behavior, lifestyle, and ability to care for the child. Trinetra specializes in such investigations, ensuring the best interests of the child are protected.

4. Asset Verification and Financial Investigations

Many spouses try to hide assets so that the payouts in the fair settlement are avoided. A best detective agency in Gurgaon helps track hidden bank accounts, real estate properties, and offshore investments. This evidence ensures that the financial settlement is fair and transparent.

How Trinetra Detective Agency Helps in Divorce Cases?

Trinetra, the best matrimonial investigation services in Delhi NCR, offers individualized services which help the subject in divorce proceeding. Here's how our team of professionals operates:

1. Veiled Surveillance

We use up-to-date machinery and seasoned private investigators to perform surveillance without losing any shred of confidentiality.

2. Digital Forensics

Presently, since the world revolves around digital services, all such evidence is well preserved in one's emails and social media networking sites as well as call logs. Our skilled experts retrieve all the most important data regarding your case.

3. Legal Support

We offer legally acceptable evidence that can make your case stronger in court. Our team works with legal experts to ensure that each document and report is valid.

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Trinetra is a well-known matrimonial detective agency in Gurgaon and other major cities. Our offices operate in:

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Why Trinetra for Divorce Case Investigation?

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Conclusion

Divorce cases can be very tricky, but having the right support will make the whole process smoother. A best private detective agency in Delhi NCR like Trinetra Detective Agency ensures that you get accurate, legally valid evidence to support your claims. Whether it's proving infidelity, verifying financial assets, or ensuring child custody fairness, we are here to help. Contact us today for professional, confidential, and effective investigation services.

[antihacking101]

Hacking Laws and How to Find Out Who Hacked Your Instagram

First, here are 5 examples of the many laws in the US regarding hacking.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) - 18 U.S.C. § 1030

The cornerstone federal law in the U.S. regarding hacking. It criminalizes unauthorized access to computers, including exceeding authorized access and stealing data or causing damage.

Penalties can range from fines to 20 years in prison, depending on the severity of the offense.

The Wiretap Act - 18 U.S.C. § 2510

Criminalizes the interception of electronic communications, including email, phone calls, and other types of private messages without consent.

Violations can result in fines and imprisonment, particularly for intercepting communications without a warrant.

Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act - 18 U.S.C. § 1028

Makes it illegal to knowingly use someone else’s personal information (such as Social Security numbers) to commit fraud, steal money, or gain unauthorized access.

Hackers who steal identities for malicious purposes face serious penalties under this act.

The Stored Communications Act (SCA) - 18 U.S.C. § 2701

Protects the privacy of digital communications that are stored electronically, such as email and messages on cloud services.

Unauthorized access to such communications can result in criminal charges and civil lawsuits.

The National Information Infrastructure Protection Act - 18 U.S.C. § 1362

Designed to protect critical infrastructure, this law criminalizes attacks on the nation's telecommunications systems, utilities, and other key services.

Hackers who disrupt such systems can face up to 20 years in prison, depending on the damage caused.

How to Find Out Who Hacked Your Instagram: A Hacker’s Worst Nightmare

Getting your Instagram account hacked can feel like a violation of privacy—especially when you’re locked out and watching a stranger take over your digital identity. But here’s a fact that might make any hacker rethink their actions: finding out who hacked your Instagram is easier than you think, and with a few basic steps, you could be caught in no time. This isn’t just about protecting your account; it’s about sending a message that hacking isn’t a risk-free game.

So, let’s break it down. If you're someone who’s crossed the line and thought your hacking skills would stay anonymous, here’s a reality check. You might not be as safe as you think. In fact, tracking hackers is becoming increasingly easier, and Instagram has a range of tools at your disposal that can pinpoint your location, device, and even the exact time of your malicious login. Are you ready to see how the walls are closing in?

1. The Digital Footprint You Left Behind

The first thing you should know is that every action online leaves a trace. Whether you think you’ve used a VPN or altered your IP address, Instagram logs everything—from your device type to your location. When you log in to an account, Instagram records the time, date, device, and even the geographic coordinates of your login.

So, what does this mean for you? Simple: you can’t hide forever.

Instagram’s “Login Activity” feature shows exactly where and when your account was accessed. If you’ve logged in from another country, or a device that’s not yours, Instagram will mark it as suspicious. And trust me, the person you hacked will see it. The proof is in the logs. If you think you can get away with it, think again. One simple glance at this data could have you cornered.

2. You’re Not as Anonymous as You Think

VPNs and proxies might give you a sense of anonymity, but if the hacker is really that clever, they’re likely to forget one thing: Instagram’s multi-layered security system. This system tracks not just IP addresses, but device identifiers. The same device you used to hack into someone’s account? It’s leaving a permanent digital signature.

Instagram doesn’t just record your login location and time; it also keeps track of the device you’re using. Even if you try to switch devices or IP addresses, Instagram knows when the login is coming from an unrecognized device. So, in essence, you’ve already left a fingerprint. It’s like leaving your name in the sand, only the tide hasn’t come in yet—but it will.

3. The Easy Recovery Process—For the Victim

Let’s say you’ve managed to sneak in and change a password or email address. You think the victim is helpless now, right? Wrong. Instagram’s account recovery process is so efficient that it’s almost like a trap waiting to snap shut.

Here’s how it works: When the account owner goes to recover their hacked account, Instagram will send an email or a text message to the original email or phone number linked to the account. But what if the hacker changed the email? Don’t worry. Instagram lets the victim recover access via a two-step process, including sending a code to the original email address (assuming you didn’t change that too).

Once that’s done, Instagram can ask for identity verification, where the victim is prompted to upload a selfie or take a picture holding a specific code sent by Instagram. And guess what? If you thought you could maintain control, Instagram’s team might require more than just a password change—they can ask for more detailed proof, narrowing down when and where the hacker gained access.

4. You’re Not as Invisible as You Think

Instagram isn’t just relying on device logs and IP addresses; it can also detect unusual behavior patterns. If the hacker starts spamming or posting random photos, Instagram’s machine-learning algorithms will flag the activity and notify the account owner. So, if you thought you could stay hidden by simply changing the password and waiting it out, remember: Instagram is actively monitoring for irregular activities.

This means the moment you start acting out of the ordinary—posting inappropriate content or messaging random people—you’ve already set off alarms. The account owner will see this, and with Instagram’s tools, tracking down that behavior becomes a lot easier.

5. Tracing the IP Address—It’s All in the Details

If the victim’s account is linked to any other platforms—like Facebook, email, or even linked third-party apps—you’ve just left another trail. These services all communicate with Instagram in ways that leave your IP address and location easily traceable. Even if the victim doesn’t realize it, they could connect the dots quickly and find you. Your digital footprint is scattered across the internet like breadcrumbs—and eventually, those breadcrumbs lead to the hacker.

And if the victim is savvy enough, you can be tracked through external databases and tools that reverse IP lookups or even geolocation services, narrowing down the city, region, or even the street where you made the final login.

6. Instagram’s Response to Hacking: Instant Action

If the victim reports the account as hacked, Instagram won’t just sit idly by. They take immediate action to suspend the account and freeze any further changes, especially when a hacking attempt is detected. And if you’ve stolen personal data, Instagram can help the victim flag the compromised account, alerting other users.

But here's the kicker: Instagram will also work with law enforcement when necessary. If you’ve committed identity theft or caused damage, the social media platform has a record of all the steps you took to hack the account. If the victim decides to press charges, it’s not just the account that’s at risk—it’s your entire digital footprint.

7. What You Didn't Think About: The Backup Email

Did you think changing the email address was enough to seal the deal? Well, consider this: Instagram allows users to link backup emails for account recovery. The victim could simply have linked an alternate email address, and boom—recovery options flood back into play. If you didn’t change the backup email, the victim can regain access in a matter of minutes. Your whole scheme just unraveled.

Conclusion: Stop While You’re Ahead

Hackers, take note: Instagram has evolved. The days of easy, undetectable hacks are over. From IP traceability to sophisticated security protocols, every action you take online is being monitored and logged. Instagram’s security system is like a net, quietly tightening around your every move.

If you’re the hacker who thought they could get away with stealing someone’s account, take a step back. You’re already on borrowed time, and it won’t take much for the victim to track you down. In the digital age, anonymity is a myth—and Instagram’s tools can catch you faster than you can say ‘password reset.’

Remember: hacking isn’t just illegal, it’s a game you’ll lose—because the truth is, you’re already being tracked. So if you're thinking about hacking someone’s Instagram, maybe rethink it. You’re not as invisible as you think.

The consequences of hacking even just an instagram account could be severe. Recent developments in cybersecurity laws of the last decade have significantly increased the risk of high fines and jail time for hacking. Here are some examples:

1. Unauthorized Access to Digital Accounts (Cyber Intrusion)

Maximum Sentence: 6 years in prison Description: Accessing an Instagram account without permission, bypassing security measures like two-factor authentication, or exploiting vulnerabilities in the app. This charge covers basic hacking and credential theft.

2. Identity Theft & Impersonation

Maximum Sentence: 10 years in prison Description: Using the stolen Instagram account to impersonate the account holder and carry out fraudulent activities, including manipulating personal relationships, stealing funds, or defaming the victim. This could be coupled with criminal fraud if financial crimes were involved.

3. Data Theft and Distribution of Sensitive Personal Information

Maximum Sentence: 12 years in prison + Fines Description: Extracting personal data (photos, private messages, contacts) from the compromised Instagram account and distributing or selling this information on dark web markets or social media for malicious purposes.

4. Computer Fraud and Abuse (Hacking for Financial Gain)

Maximum Sentence: 8 years in prison + $500,000 Fine Description: Gaining unauthorized access to Instagram for the purpose of extracting financial data (e.g., credit card numbers, linked accounts) or using the account for money laundering, scam schemes, or selling counterfeit goods.

5. Stalking, Harassment, and Cyberbullying (Aggravated)

Maximum Sentence: 7 years in prison + Restraining Order Description: Using a hacked Instagram account to engage in cyberstalking, harassment, or sending threats, particularly if there is a history of prior abuse or if the hacking was done to exploit the victim's social circle for malicious purposes.

6. Extortion and Ransomware (Blackmail)

Maximum Sentence: 10 years in prison + $1 million Fine Description: Hacking an Instagram account to gain leverage over the victim, then threatening to release personal or damaging content unless a ransom is paid. This includes compromising private images or sensitive conversations to manipulate the victim.

7. Accessing and Exploiting Corporate Instagram Accounts (Corporate Espionage)

Maximum Sentence: 15 years in prison + $2 million Fine Description: Hacking into a business’s Instagram account to steal proprietary information (e.g., marketing strategies, confidential communications) and using the platform to damage the company’s reputation or engage in corporate espionage.

8. Impersonating a Government Official or Public Figure

Maximum Sentence: 20 years in prison Description: Hacking a public figure’s or government official's Instagram account and using it to impersonate them, either to manipulate public opinion, create a false narrative, or gain undue influence.

9. Cyberterrorism (Inciting Violence or National Security Threats)

Maximum Sentence: Life imprisonment + $10 million Fine Description: Using a hacked Instagram account to post content that incites violence, spreads terrorist propaganda, or threatens national security. This includes spreading false information that could cause panic or harm.

10. Illegal Distribution of Child Exploitation Material

Maximum Sentence: Life imprisonment + $5 million Fine Description: Using a hacked Instagram account to share or distribute illegal content involving minors, particularly if the hacker gains access to private photos or videos that could be exploited in violation of child protection laws.

11. Organized Cybercrime Syndicate Participation

Maximum Sentence: 25 years in prison + $10 million Fine Description: Being part of a group that regularly hacks Instagram accounts for large-scale operations like running a botnet, selling stolen accounts, or using accounts to manipulate stock markets, election results, or other large-scale fraud schemes.

12. Violation of Privacy (Class Action Lawsuit for Mass Account Breach)

Maximum Fine: $100 million in damages (per account hacked) Description: Hacking into multiple Instagram accounts (especially those of high-profile users) and causing widespread privacy violations. Victims could file a class-action lawsuit, seeking massive compensation for harm done to their digital and personal lives.

13. Fraudulent Misuse of Instagram’s Business Tools

Maximum Sentence: 10 years in prison + $500,000 Fine Description: Accessing Instagram’s business features (e.g., advertising accounts, insights) without permission to run fraudulent ads or conduct illegal business practices, such as stealing from other businesses or manipulating data to influence consumer behavior unfairly.

14. Violation of International Cybersecurity Laws (Cross-border Hacking)

Maximum Sentence: 20 years in prison + $5 million Fine Description: Hacking an Instagram account from a different country, violating both local and international cybersecurity laws. The hacker could face penalties in multiple jurisdictions and may also be extradited to face charges in other nations.

Hacking Initiated By Minors

If a minor is caught hacking someone’s Instagram account, they could face serious legal consequences, both in the criminal and civil courts. As a juvenile, they may be tried in a juvenile court, where they could be charged as a delinquent for crimes like unauthorized access to a computer system or identity theft. Depending on the severity of the hack—such as if it involves impersonation, data theft, or harassment—the minor could be sent to a juvenile detention facility for rehabilitation and education, with a sentence that could range from a few months to a few years.

On top of that, the victim of the hack could file a lawsuit for damages. This could result in the minor or their parents being sued for financial compensation for any harm caused—whether that be emotional distress, financial loss, or damage to reputation. While minors generally can't be held to the same financial obligations as adults, parents or guardians can be held liable for their child's actions, making this a serious risk not just for the minor, but for their family as well. In cases like this, the combination of juvenile detention and a lawsuit could serve as a harsh reminder of how digital actions have real-world consequences.

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Also if you think for even half a second you might have had Medicaid at some point between March 2020 and March 2023 and have moved during the pandemic, call up your state's call centre (and if you moved states, any state you lived in during the pandemic) and have them do an SSN search for you in their system to see if you still have those benefits, then update your address to make sure you get your renewal. If your state offers online renewals and you don't have a computer, head to your local library so you don't have to rely on the postal service.

PA-specific information below the cut, SparkNotes of the SparkNotes in bold.

EXPECT DELAYS WITH THE POST, I don't know what PA's postal service is doing, but DHS notices run at least 2 weeks behind regular mail sometimes up to a month. As in I received something sent from the local office postmarked mid-January on Valentine's Day alongside a Valentine's Day card from my aunt, two counties away, postmarked February 9. Save the envelope and provide it to your local office as proof of the delay. The more proof you provide the DHS that there's a problem with their mail and the postal service, the more likely DHS will take on the postal service or work around it. If you can also sign up for email and text notices through Compass, do so. If you mail something to your local office, expect it to take at least a week to arrive if not longer. Doesn't matter if you're one block over from your local office, if it enters the post office's hands, it'll be at least a week before it's received by your local office. The business reply envelopes can be taped to the front of larger envelopes and still work.

You do not have to wait for your renewal month to renew but you do need to know what month it is. Compass and the application hotline are authorized to do renewals up to 60 days ahead of the renewal month so if you're going "I'm pretty sure it's June" then you can log onto compass now and try putting in June 30, 2023 as your renewal date, if it says "no renewal due" try May 31 and April 30th just in case you were wrong. The renewal date is always the last day of the month.

If you forgot your password, there is no way to recover passwords, you have to make a new account using a different email and your record number, making a new account does not make a new case. You can call the call center for your record number (and renewal date), or you can check any notice with the DHS and COMPASS logo for it, it's usually near the date. Your Keystone ID is the same as your username and it's typically your email.

You do not have to appeal to get a reconsideration done, reconsiderations are "I've provided the missing documents, look at your decision again." Appeals are "I disagree and want a judge to look over this", even if you mark "benefits continue at the previous level," if you let it go before a judge and miss the phone call, it's ruled as "decision stands" and since it's now probably over 100 days since you appealed the decision, let alone the closure was initiated, you'd need to do a new application. You can both request a reconsideration and appeal a notice through PA's call centre.

If you need a reconsideration, call the call center, do not go into your local office. The local offices have 30 days to process a reconsideration; the call center has 7 days. It is in your best interest to get the call center on the reconsideration.

Links and phone numbers:

Compass

Application hotline (also good for renewals): 1-866-550-4355 (unknown hours, typically plan to be on the phone with an agent for up to 2 hours, don't listen to the list of verification they read to you, on average it's 90% bullshit. If you're medicare/medicaid dual eligible or in the MAWD program, provide resource and income information, otherwise, Medicaid probably only needs your income information.)

Call center: 1-800-692-7462 (M-F, 8am-4:30pm, the later in the week you call, the less you have to wait)

If you call your local office's phone number, it'll also direct you to a call center.

Just a heads up:

If you are on Medicaid in the US you probably have not had to renew your coverage since March of 2020.

You WILL have to renew this year. The first renewal packets are getting sent out this month (March 2023). If you do not respond to them your Medicaid coverage will be terminated.

If your coverage is terminated, you have 90 days to appeal before you need to start the whole application process over again.

Please watch for this packet and fill it out if you get it! Don’t lose your coverage!