Same-name on Google+, following me. Report?

May 1, 2017 11:07 AM

There's an account with my real name on Google Plus which has been +1 -ing my posts and, as far as I can tell, doing nothing else. Sure feels like a setup. Should I report it as identity fraud?

I am feeling technically wrong doing so because of course I'm not the only person with this name.

posted by clew to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Has the account been upvoting other posts, or only yours? Does it seem focused on your stuff exclusively?
posted by amtho at 11:14 AM on May 1, 2017

Before you jump to "identity fraud", have you tried contacting this user?
I know I've gotten a kick out of contacting people who share the same "more-common-than-you-think" real name as me. But I usually start by saying hello first instead of just quietly upvoting their comments...
posted by jozxyqk at 11:17 AM on May 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Keep an eye on it, but +1ing your posts and doing nothing else isn't fraud so you shouldn't report it as such.
posted by ernielundquist at 11:37 AM on May 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: No public activity other than upvoting my posts. No user picture or About information. That's what makes me suspicious; previously I've gotten spatters of upvotes from strangers who found that we shared an interest, but I could always see their interests separately.

I wouldn't contact anything that looks like phishing.

Will keep an eye on it, glumly expecting some kind of novel depressing bureaucratic attack.
posted by clew at 12:17 PM on May 1, 2017

Do you have a blogger blog? Is it set to push to Google+ whenever you post to the blog?
That shows up as a post with a +1.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:10 PM on May 1, 2017

Response by poster: (Followup: I *think* the account in question has been deleted. I didn't do anything.)
posted by clew at 12:59 PM on May 31, 2017