Faking it to get sympathy

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Have you ever encountered someone on a forum who fakes an illness, death, illness/death of family, etc to get sympathy from fellow forum members?

How did that person get caught? (if they did)

What made you suspicious of their lies?

 

[McConnaughay]

At first I thought this would be one of those that belongs in the life section, but I wasn't sure how it'd to be get sympathy.

I've never encountered somebody faking an illness to get sympathy, and either way, I don't really care. You can say, it was immature, and overly needy but really, who does it hurt?

 

[Chatsie]

It's not something I've ever come across.



It may not hurt anyone - except for the realisation that

you've been 'taken for a ride', but I do think it can lead

to mistrust.

 

[Bluezone777]

It seems harmless but it's not. This sort of behavior of faking problems to get sympathy can lead people who actually do have problems in their lives from being open for fear of being labeled a liar by cynical forum members who seen one too many liars get caught out on their lies.



I seen people lie about their name, their gender, their entire identity even faking their death. Some people really have some serious issues to even bother doing all of that on a forum. I like to think no sane mentally healthy person would do that.

 

[RJH]

There is a user that seems to keep cropping up on a few forums that is like this, now until recently I had not heard of this user but they seem to crave attention and will say and do anything to be noticed and from what I have read on other forums I visit someone has revealed his true colours and all of a sudden he has all these crippling illnesses. People like this are a waste of space and I read and ignore their attention seeking posts. Makes you realise how sad some peoples lifes are if they had to fake stuff to a bunch of strangers on a forum.

 

[Ashley]

It seems harmless but it's not. This sort of behavior of faking problems to get sympathy can lead people who actually do have problems in their lives from being open for fear of being labeled a liar by cynical forum members who seen one too many liars get caught out on their lies.



I seen people lie about their name, their gender, their entire identity even faking their death. Some people really have some serious issues to even bother doing all of that on a forum. I like to think no sane mentally healthy person would do that.

This reminds me of an incident that happened on Forum Promotion some time ago. Someone's forum had gotten hacked and they were asking advice. Replies were interesting and people were giving this guy help. I remember one person saying like, Someone would have to be mentally ill in order to do something like this! Now, this offended me, because I am mentally ill in real life, but does that mean I run around hacking the first forum I see? Heck no! I have minor ADD, but my staff are really good about talking me out of a situation before I do something I could seriously end up regretting later on.



Also, I should've said that this person was actually hacking more than one forum, not just the one member. But the mentally ill thing bothered me because I really do have mental health issues in real life, but again, I have staff who back me up before I make a decision I may regret later on.

 

[DrLeftover]

There is a word for it, and an entire range of mental illnesses under it.



Münchausen syndrome

Münchausen syndrome is a term for psychiatric disorders known as factitious disorders wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome or hospital hopper syndrome. Nurses and Doctors sometimes refer to them as frequent flyers, because they return to the hospital just as frequent flyers return to the airport. However, there is discussion to reclassify them as somatoform disorder in the DSM-5 as it is unclear whether or not people are conscious of drawing attention to themselves.[1]



Münchausen syndrome is related to Münchausen syndrome by proxy (MSbP/MSP), which refers to the abuse of another being, typically a child, in order to seek attention or sympathy for the abuser.

http://en.wikipedia....hausen_syndrome