Man Gets 3 Years In Jail For Fake Facebook Profile

from the fraud-or-fun? dept

Mon, Feb 25th 2008 6:48am — Mike Masnick

Earlier this month, we pointed to the case of a Moroccan computer engineer who was arrested, supposedly for "stealing" the Moroccan prince's profile on Facebook. As we noted in the post, the original details weren't clear on whether the guy had somehow gained control over the prince's actual Facebook page (which seemed unlikely) or if he'd just set up a fake profile. Further details revealed, indeed, that the guy had merely set up a fake profile of the prince for fun. Given how common fake profiles of celebrities are on Facebook, it seems rather ridiculous to consider that being akin to identity fraud. Apparently, however, the judicial system in Morocco feels differently. The guy in question has now been sentenced to three years in jail. This seems ridiculously excessive, especially since it doesn't sound like the fake profile was negative in anyway. The guy, Fouad Mourtada, claims to be a fan of the prince who just saw the opportunity to have a bit of fun in setting up a profile for him. It's difficult to see how any court with any sense of reason could consider that to be the equivalent of identity fraud.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: fake profile, identity fraud, morocco
Companies: facebook

44 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Matt Bennett, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:02am

Not that Morocco is very bad on that sort of scale, but it is an Islamist state. The law does all sorts of funny things in those coutries.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- kamal, 26 Feb 2008 @ 12:33pm
  
  Re:
  you ignorant white piece of ass
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
dorpus, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:05am

What if
What if someone put up a Facebook profile claiming to be "Mike Masnick, HIV positive. Hobbies: going to Thailand to play with underage boys"? Would going after the person who put up such a profile seem "ridiculous" to Mike too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DanC, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:16am
  
  Re: What if
  I would think a reasonable person would just try to get the page taken down, and possibly monetary compensation.
  
  "Would going after the person who put up such a profile seem 'ridiculous' to Mike too?"
  
  You intentionally post stupid, poorly thought out comments to get attention, don't you?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:08am
    
    Re: Re: What if
    And you think you are really smart don't you?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - DanC, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:20am
      
      Re: Re: Re: What if
      I'll stand by my posts, and apologize where I'm wrong. dorpus has a tendency to play devil's advocate poorly with posts like that. Maybe I shouldn't call him on it, since it doesn't seem to do any good with angry dude either.
      
      In any case, I'm not going to bother name calling with an AC.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Ima Fish, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:17am
  
  Re: What if
  "Would going after the person who put up such a profile seem "ridiculous" to Mike too?"
  
  You should at least attempt to be analogous. Your example was clearly libelous. However, the example cited above clearly was not. Accordingly, it would only make sense that Mike would have a different view of two contrary situations.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - comboman, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:40am
    
    Re: Re: What if
    You should at least attempt to be analogous. Your example was clearly libelous. However, the example cited above clearly was not.
    I followed all the links and none of the articles state what was actually in the facebook profile other than the statement by the convicted man that it was done "for fun" (lots of room for interpretation there). As much as I hate to defend dorpus, he may actually have a point. Even if his "fun" wasn't libelous (by American standards), making fun of the leader of an conservative Islamic monarchy is probably not a wise move.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Boost, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:35am
  
  Re: What if
  Dorpus, don't be an idiot! Really, next time a thought pops into your head. Do us all a favor and keep it to yourself.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:23am
  
  Re: What if
  you should do that dorpus
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:54am
  
  Re: What if
  It's noted that the Fake-Prince page was not negative. I think your Fake-Mike page would nicely fit in as "negative." Therefore the two are not comparable.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:16am

This guy is lucky they didn't cut off his face.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
known coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:32am

Identity fraud is identity fraud.
Posing as someone else is fraud simple enough, whether it be attempting a bank withdrawal or making a facebook profile.

This case is in morocco not here, if it is illegal there the Moroccan gov’t are perfectly within their rights to do whatever the hell they want with the guy.

Even if it were here, I think posing as another living human being should be should be illegal and 3 years, before probation and time off for good behavior, in the slammer is a fairly reasonable amount of time for it.

Remember this is not someone making up a profile to be anonymous, or claiming to be anonymous (which would fall under protected speech). It is someone creating a profile of a “celebrity” and claiming it as their own.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- James, 25 Feb 2008 @ 1:55pm
  
  Re: Identity fraud is identity fraud.
  It seems like you are probably one with strict punishments. However, the guy is a fuckin prince, people idolize famous/respectable people all the time. pretending to be them online, especially in a place like facebook, is not anything like hacking into the prince's bank account and making a "bank withdrawal". Just because Morocco and other Islamic countries are "like that" does not mean its right.
  
  people like u are the reason why the Islamic world wastes half their time delivering harsh punishment to women because they dont conceal their entire body with burkas, why people are beaten for having no beards, while not focusing on real life problems, like improving the economy, and the education systems.
  
  Remember, Its not 1 month, not 6 months, not even 1 year, but 3 damn years, for having a fake facebook account.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
K-Rack, 25 Feb 2008 @ 7:45am

Wow...
This is pretty ridiculous. People set up fake profiles up on Facebook and Myspace all the time. Most don't even get deleted. Most of the myspaces of artists, of entertainers, are usually never set up by them. Even the more known ones.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- GE, 25 Feb 2008 @ 11:20am
  
  Re: Wow...
  People do alot of things all the time. That dosen't make it right. People toss off all the time but get caught diong it and what are you ..... thats right.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Facebook know it all, 25 Aug 2013 @ 9:12am
  
  Re: Wow...
  Most MySpace and Facebook celebrity profiles that are real are linked to their twitter accounts where they don't have to deal with constant private messaging. Then there are their paid representatives who are told what they can post, usually adverts about upcoming music and movies or projects. Also, on Facebook they have what is known as community pages, not to be confused with fan pages, community pages are set up by Facebook. Then, every time you mention the person or thing it shows up on that community page whether you aloud it or not and whether they allow it or not. . When a real celeb joins Facebook, that community page becomes their own page, and it no linger says " community page" You have to verify it is truly you to do this. Most celeb profiles are not searchable. They have special privalige. And people who are fakes and pretending to be a celeb with a real timeline. And not just a page can be very dangerous.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
James (profile), 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:02am

It was the Prince
The guy set up a page for a Prince in his country. That probably changes things a bit. I doubt it would have been a big deal if it was a commoner. remember the crown prince who killed his father the king with an AK-47 and nothing happened to him because he became King upon the death of his father and that made him above the law?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
JohnOpincar, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:22am

Good for Morroco
Too bad we don't have that law here in the U.S. There's too much worthless/fake crap on the internet as it is. What was done was intentionally misleading.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:33am
  
  Re: Good for Morroco
  No it wasn't. No one was gonna believe that was really the Prince of Morocco. If you saw that facebook page and thought it was real than the internet isn't a good place for you anyway. He wasn't trying to gain anything by doing.. just having some fun.
  
  If I'm bob and you're dan and I walk around all day with a sign that says 'I'm dan be my friend'... is that really fraud? Even if it was.. a punishable case that does more good than bad?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- SteveD, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:55am
  
  Re: Good for Morroco
  Well, you'd need more prisons for starters...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
dwight taylor, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:23am

hmmm
thats fuccked up
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 8:29am

Yup, islamic countries pretty much suck with their "judicial" systems.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
J Brown, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:11am

Setup the judge on FB
Find out who the judges were and set them up with fake Facebook profiles
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The infamous Joe, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:26am

Clearly the world has gone mad.
FTA:

According to the website, he told family members who visited him in jail that he had been blindfolded and beaten unconscious at the time of his arrest.

Seriously? You guys think this is a *good* response to a fake _FACEBOOK_ profile? Three years in jail??! It wasn't even "Hi, I'm the prince and I like touching small to medium sized mammals." it was just in fun! Do you think there aren't Dubya Bush facebooks out there.. do you really think our great president made it? Should *those* people get 3 years too? What if it was Dubya's relative instead?! (As is the case here.)

Tell me, what if he ordered a pizza to his house and said he was the prince? 3 years? What if he dresses up for the prince on halloween? 3 years?!

Pull your heads out of your butts. It's freakin' facebook. Relax. This is absurd, no matter where you live.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Curtis Wright, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:28am

Jailtime!
It doesn't matter if we like it or not, or that we think it's bad that this happens to someone. I say that because any person in another country should know the laws of his/her country.
Ok, point taken. No one individual can know all the laws. My point is that you should know that if you live in Morroco, you need to know that you're not bringing condemnation down upon yourself. Didn't this individual know anything about his own country?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:59am
  
  Re: Jailtime!
  That a law exists does not necessitate that the law is just or reasonable. Unjust and unreasonable laws do not deserve to be defended. Jailing someone for a fake, non-defamatory Facebook page is both unjust and unreasonable, regardless of where you happen to live.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
torkstone, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:41am

fake cock, real hen
i walk around with a fake cock... the hens seem to notice and immediately peck away at my fraudulent display of caucus... like women with artificial inflations, my fake cock was merely for peacocking...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Trevor T, 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:49am
  
  Re: fake cock, real hen
  "fraudulent display of caucus"
  
  What a great band name.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
R. H., 25 Feb 2008 @ 9:46am

Living in a Monarchy
Well, one must remember that Morocco is a Monarchy. Impersonating or annoying the royals in a true 'King can dissolve the government or deploy the army as he wishes' Monarchy is probably not the best idea. I think this is excessive but you wouldn't catch me doing something like this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:27am

we should all create a profile for this prince. That would really piss him off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
George W. Bin-Laden Bush, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:37am

Bring Democracy to the Infidels
give unconditional love to life, but do not expect reciprocity...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Prince Moulay Hassan, 25 Feb 2008 @ 10:49am

The thief can not take liberties with my name!
He should not have done this decrepid act, as it is my life and he is under no authority to represent it. What is even worst, he would use this profile to obtain many richies and women, which should naturally go to me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
John McCaine, 25 Feb 2008 @ 11:14am

For freedom and democracy.........
If you vote for Obama (Hillary is out of the race) Islamic terrorists are going to take over USA and they are going to force similar laws on you.

Vote for me so that you can continue creating fake profiles!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
xtrasico, 25 Feb 2008 @ 11:51am

Dumb
This is so dumb I had to take the time to post this comment.

Just remember: never move to Morocco. Maybe they'll CUT your jellybeans if your piss splashes from the water to the toilet bowl.

That for sure got to be bad... really bad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kryptos, 25 Feb 2008 @ 11:58am

Business
The post says it all... "judicial system in Morocco".

In other words, it's not the USA and therefore we shouldn't care. If they want to look like idiots, let them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
JS Beckerist, 25 Feb 2008 @ 12:43pm

Grammar Police!
Anyway != Any way

...yeah just saying...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Special Agent Fox Moulder, 25 Feb 2008 @ 12:49pm

The Truth is Out There
Invasion from outer space is inevitable...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hillary Clinton, 26 Feb 2008 @ 6:55am

"If you vote for Obama (Hillary is out of the race) Islamic terrorists are going to take over USA and they are going to force similar laws on you.

Vote for me so that you can continue creating fake profiles!!!"

Hey John, stop stealing my talking points. I am not out of it yet. Wanna see some pictures of Obama wearing a turbin?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
JohnG, 25 May 2008 @ 5:45pm

fake Facebook celebrities
I agree with you it's ridiculous they arrested the guy. But not for the same reasons you gave. If the idea was to send a message so others don't create a fake celebrity profile it isn't working. There are still many fakes which it seems Facebook isn't doing anything about. That's the ridiculous part. People posing as celebs are not helping real celebrities(yes some, though few, are on there) and not helping fans of the particular celebrity either. However if the arrest would have prevented others from lying they are a celebrity then the arrest would not be ridiculous. Keep in mind using someone else's identity is a criminal offense as it should be. If someone's a fan they can create a Fan Page for/about that celebrity and they don't have to lie to the public they are that person. As far as I'm concerned Facebook has because of this become a big joke and a laughing stock. Or as one group on Facebook says, due to this it's now known as Fakebook.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
JohnG, 25 May 2008 @ 5:51pm

fake Facebook celebrities
I agree with you it's ridiculous they arrested the guy. But not for the same reasons you gave. If the idea was to send a message so others don't create a fake celebrity profile it isn't working. There are still many fakes which it seems Facebook isn't doing anything about. That's the ridiculous part. People posing as celebs are not helping real celebrities(yes some, though few, are on there) and not helping fans of the particular celebrity either. However if the arrest would have prevented others from lying they are a celebrity then the arrest would not be ridiculous. Keep in mind using someone else's identity is a criminal offense as it should be. If someone's a fan they can create a Fan Page for/about that celebrity and they don't have to lie to the public they are that person. As far as I'm concerned Facebook has because of this become a big joke and a laughing stock. Or as one group on Facebook says, due to this it's now known as Fakebook.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
NextTopModel, 15 Apr 2009 @ 3:53am

Hey guys I see this happen all the time! Just log into Utherverse.com look up "Christopher80" and he is pretending to be the norwegian actor Thor Knai!
A shame people have to lie to get others to "fall in love" with them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
sana sadiq, 2 Oct 2009 @ 10:25am

report fake profile
my name is sana sadiq and i want to report a person who is using ma pictures as well as my name. am sending you my original profile link.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=sana+sadiq&o=2048&init=ffs#/profile.php?id=10028409 30&ref=profile.
this is ma original link. you can check ma fotoz and plz finish the fake one.. ma original profile email address is sana_las@hotmail.com. am expecting a good response fron your side plz. thanku
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anna, 1 May 2011 @ 9:15pm

Wow
[ link to this | view in chronology ]