A Run in With Cyberstalking

Over the Christmas break I started playing a game called Trivia Crack on my iPhone. It is a fun little app that is similar to Trivial Pursuit. I began playing against friends and then started playing against random people. I didn’t see any harm with playing against random people out there in the big wide world.

Then it happened.

I received a message on the app from a random person that I was playing. He said something like “Sorry for kicking your butt. But at least you’re a hottie!!”

I thought this was a weird message but just ignored it. Since I signed up for the app using my facebook account it pulled my profile picture. So, I took it as he liked my picture. I did not respond to the message.

Two days later I get another message from this same person “You’re still super hot!” A few minutes later I receive this “Hey I lived in (city I live in) for 11 years. What do you do there? Work?”

OKAY!

I am totally freaked out at this point. How did he know where I live? I checked the profile on the app. It has no listing of where I live. The only thing that is listed is my name from my facebook profile. Then it hits me, he googled my name. So now this random person has my name, picture and a city.

I quickly blocked him on the app. I also changed my facebook privacy settings. Thankfully I don’t list the exact city I live in on my social media stuff. Due to this blog I know that people can easily google my name and find me so I try to keep my exact location under wraps.

This experience made me think about how easily a young person could be sucked in. What if he sent these messages to a vulnerable young girl? What if she thought the comments were flattering? She could easily be sucked in.

Although I enjoy playing this little trivia game, I will no longer play against random people. I guess another lesson should be not to connect your facebook page to the app! Maybe signup under a screen name.

And maybe this guy meant no harm; but I’m not taking a chance! I hope some of you might be able to learn from this story as well. Tell your children too!

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Renae Chiovaro

Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.