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How to Fight Name Scraping Scammers?

CurtMonash writes "I was ego-surfing the other day, and was surprised to discover that I was listed as a member of an on-line dating service. It turns out these scamsters generate web pages for lots of (FirstName, LastName) combos, each claiming that the named individual is a member of their service. I posted about this, and discovered other people were upset, at least one had lost interest in a guy because he appeared to be a member, and so on. I've since followed up with lessons learned, a big one being that everybody should have a visible web presence. But frankly, the ideas I've come up with for fighting this kind of reputation scam seem fairly weak. Do Slashdotters have any better ideas?"

7 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. You caught a wave! by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    "I was ego-surfing the other day ..."

    You seem to have caught a wave, unless of course your name happens to be Mortimer Onlyoneontheplanet!

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  2. Just admit it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Just admit that you joined AdultFriendFinder, dude...It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes.

  3. appeal to a higher authority by ad0n · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    WWJD -- ask What would Jesus Do ?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_would_Jesus_do ( hehe.. sorry, not meant to be offensive ) . . a .>

  4. Re:Web presence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Dog Dude? Aren't you that guy from a video I saw on spoogetube? You'll probably never be as famous as Horse Dude, but on the other hand, you're less likely to die from sexual impalement.

  5. ReMod. by JCSoRocks · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Informative!? no! Fuuuunnny. Watch this.

    --
    You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
  6. Re:ha ha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Why don't you ask your mom what I was doing at the time?

  7. Online Reputation Management by PHXX · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The best way to fight this is to use an Online Reputation Management Service. It is best to sign up with a company that can manage SEO effectively, for obvious reasons. I know a company that offers a very good service for this. PHXX.COM, Virtual Internet Profile. They see most interest from high net worth individuals, but anyone could use the service.