ABSTRACT
As we have noted in earlier chapters, the freedom offered by the Internet truthfully to disclose information about oneself paradoxically also allows us to engage in creative self-presentation, misrepresentation and outright lies. Cases of deception online hold a morbid fascination for researchers and Internet users alike. The case of Alex and Joan (reported by Van Gelder 1991) is often cited as a classic case of identity deception. In this case Alex created a persona (called `Joan') who became a con®dante of many of the women on a discussion board, some of whom Alex had sexual relations with. Joan avoided FtF meetings by disclosing that she was disabled. Of course, Joan was Alex, which caused considerable outrage in the community. A number of other cases are reasonably well documented. For instance, `Nowheremom' (a female created by a male online community member, whom he subsequently dated and then killed off in a car accident) has been outlined by Joinson (2003) and Joinson and Dietz-Uhler (2002). Feldman (2000) further describes four cases where people claimed serious illness on support communities, only to be unmasked as fakes later (he calls this `Munchausen by Internet'). In this chapter, we examine the nature of deception, its prevalence online, the impact lying has on those lied to and how to identify a deceiver online.
