Security Precaution on VMK

[threeboysmom]

I know a lot of us like to help out new people on VMK and refer them to the Dis Boards to get codes or game helps, etc. But I just want to urge all of you and your children to please not give out "Dis boards. come" on VMK. You never know who it might be behind that cute little VMK character.

Think about it - once on the Dis, they could find out your Dis name through the sticky on the top, then could search all your posts and glean a TON of information about you, possibly even learning your location. They can contact you or your children outside of the safe environment of VMK using private messaging or email. They can find out who your kids are by looking at another sticky on the top of the boards. It is a VERY scary situation, I think, if you lead the wrong person here....

I am rather spooked by a situation I've had on VMK (thankfully, it is me and not one of my children!). But a character there who I *thought* was a troubled pre-teen girl and therefore I have befriended *her* for the past couple of months, I now have a suspicion that this "girl" is really a man. He/she has become totally obsessed with my character and I am a little scared that I might have mentioned Dis boards in one of my early conversations.... But as Disvaclub pointed out to me yesterday, if he knew about the Dis Boards, he would have contacted me by now since he has been wanting to be able to contact me outside of VMK for sometime (cries on VMK that he wants to see me in real life, wants to tone me, wants to come to my house!) Since he hasn't contacted me outside of VMK, I think I am *safe* here on the Dis, but just wanted to share my story to show how easily something "unsafe" could quickly happen.

Please please tell your children not to tell anybody about the Dis Boards on VMK!

 

[Maleficent2]

I hope you have reported this to VMK and then removed this person from your friends list. Go with you gut.

That does sound like a very scary situation to me.


Mal

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Actually, not to try to scare anyone, but anyone can search for your vmk name and find the DIS online.

If you or anyone has used a vmk name in a thread or used the same name as your DIS name and posted, Anyone can just use a search engine like google or yahoo and find them. If you don't believe me, just try it.

That's why it's important not to give out your full name, telephone or address anywhere online. And that includes profiles and personal pages or blogs. Only use PM's for that type of info and only to trusted people.

And in your profiles, if you have your city listed, make sure that it's not your name listed in any infomation directories. And that's because people can hack into any forums that you are a part of and can find out your last name that you used to register with.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, anyone who is serious about stalking a person can do it fairly easily. So it's OK to be just a little paranoid about people (but not too paranoid ).
Just be careful what information you give out.

 

[MomsGoneGoofy]

I hope you have reported this to VMK and then removed this person from your friends list. Go with you gut.

That does sound like a very scary situation to me.


Mal

I was thinking the same thing. Very scary.

 

[Captain Brain]

I just googled my dis name and I found my dis profile and ALL of my posts!

That is just weird!

 

[DarkSideMoon]

Yeah, if someone REALLY wanted to find you, they would, you can't stop it. I highly doubt someone is going to go on VMK to stalk people, it is much easier to go down the block and pick some random kid.

 

[TwirlerGirl]

As a CL I've befriended several players who I thought were young people and needed a guardian angel to watch over them a bit. I have in particular 2 boy players and 2 girl players, that I try to help when ever I can. Recently I had one of them following me, said "poor", "come" and nothing else. He has become more and more insistant. That gave me an erie feeling. I started to worry, "What have I done". Yet the other young players I enjoy giftinging items and helping them out. I've been very careful lately because of that feeling. Go with you gut about any player. It's your safety you need to protect.

 

[disvaclub92]

It is very frightning. You want to help but to what extent. Some kids are really great, then you have others that give you personal information. That is what struck a chord with PinkGirlyGirl and I. Something was just not right with this person.

Just be very very cautious with people.