Television news was ablaze this morning with the story that Manti Te’O, star linebacker for the Notre Dame football team, had been duped by an online relationship with a woman who did not exist.
Some commentators are saying that Te’O was in on the hoax. I do not know whether Te’O was a participant in the hoax, or whether he was a deceived victim. I do know that both scenarios are possible. Some online predators toy with people’s emotions, apparently for the fun of it. Several Lovefraud readers have been snagged by such predators, believed they were in a relationship, and had their hearts broken when their online “partners” died—only to find out that the whole thing was a ruse. This certainly could have happened to Manti Te’O.
Notre Dame: Football star Manti Te’O was ‘Catfished’ in girlfriend hoax, on abcnews.go.com.
Here is another article about this hoax, and making fun, I think, of the victim involved. We have had other bloggers here who have had almost IDENTICAL hoaxes pulled on them by internet scammers pretending to be real people…WE KNOW what psychopaths can do to victims, and how “real” they can appear to be. This is also another reason NOT to internet date.
I recently was in touch wit someone I thought might help me with my son’s parole heariing and he turned out to be a con man who worked for a legitimate victim’s support group. But, I saw through him because I saw and recognized the RED FLAGS–he wanted money to help me–“just for expenses” you know.
This whole hoax is SICK SICK SICK but doesn’t surprise me and I bet doesn’t many other LF readers either. It makes me SICK. I hope the perps go to jail for this but I bet they don’t even get a slap on the wrist, and this journalist who says it can’t be done, the victim was in on it, I think is SICK as well And uneducated about psychopaths for sure.
Was Manti Te’o REALLY fooled so easily? Journalist who exposed dead girlfriend hoax says ‘it takes a great deal of faith’ to believe Notre Dame star was duped about fake lover for so long
* Notre Dame athletic director says Manti Te’o was the victim of cruel internet prank
* Football star says that the situation has been ‘painful and humiliating’
* The death of Te’o’s girlfriend of leukemia last year has been revealed as completely false, as there is no woman by that name
* Woman pictured on ‘girlfriend’ Twitter account revealed as California woman who doesn’t know Te’o
* She reportedly gave one of the photos to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who is believed to be heavily involved in the scam
By Thomas Durante, Jeff Maysh and Rachel Quigley
PUBLISHED: 19:30 EST, 16 January 2013 | UPDATED: 11:46 EST, 17 January 2013
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The journalist who exposed the hoax behind Manti Teo’s alleged girlfriend dying of cancer said today that it would take a ‘great deal of faith’ for someone to believe the Notre Dame star was fooled into thinking she existed for so long.
The tear-jerking story of the emerging football star who excelled on the field in spite of the death of his girlfriend and grandmother was revealed yesterday as an ‘elaborate hoax’ and Te’o quickly came out to say he was the victim of ‘online predators’.
But Timothy Burke, who co-wrote the Deadspin article with Jack Dickey, spoke to the TODAY show and said he finds it hard to believe the linebacker was duped for so long and did not know Lennay Kekua was not a real person.
Here’s the link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2263656/Notre-Dame-College-football-hero-Manti-Teo-dead-girlfriend-hoax.html
Sky, I copied your link to this article so it wouldn’t be “lost” among other posts.
http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/01/17/football-star-girlfriend-fake-death-hoax-notre-dame-manti-teo/
thanks Oxy,
I didn’t realize Donna had already written about it. A friend gave me the heads up this morning.
This poor guy is now dealing with the “blame the victim” scenario.
From my experience, the people who “didn’t believe me” about my spath, WERE SPATHS.
At first I thought, they just didn’t believe me, but later on, as I continued to observe them with my new found spath lens, I realized that they knew very well that what I told them was true. They had ulterior motives for denying it.
Most were envious of me, others were IN on the con, and my brother was thinking up ways to GET IN on the con because he didn’t want to miss out on the duper’s delight. All were spaths.
So, the journalists who say that this poor kid was “in on the hoax” should be examined with a spath lens, themselves.
Sky, IGNORANCE is an excuse in some cases, but in other cases like the ones who knew the TRUTH…like your X’s buddies…they are enablers (at best) and participants at worst…
Yes, Dpnna iis right, this kid MIGHT have been playing a sympathy card, like people who claim to be raped do…
I read an article today about a woman who claimed 11 years ago that a cab driver raped her and gave DNA sample of him to cover up an AFFAIR but they couldn’t find the “perp” and then 11 years later this man gave up DNA for something and he was arrested and was nearly to trial for “rape” that was CONSENSUAL sex–the woman eventually copped to the lie (GOOD POLICE WORK GUYS!) and she got 2 years in the slammer herself. WELL DESERVED TIME IN JAIL I THINK!
I know of another guy who got charged with rape when his GF’s husband caught them and she yelled rape…she recanted though and he only spent one night in jail…but that was enough. Sure, he shouldn’t have been farking a married woman…but he didn’t deserve to be charged with RAPE because she didn’t want to admit to the affair.
This cab driver was single, and don’t know if he knew she was married or not, but in any case, it should make us CAREFUL about who we crawl in the sack with. With DNA evidence you could be arrested decades later and in a he-said, she said case, go to prison for decades for something he didn’t do.
This foot ball player, if he was indeed scammed, then he is “shamed” for being an idiot for the rest of his life. If he WAS in on the scam and playing for a “pity play” I hope it comes out, because if so, he deserves the shame, but either way, it isn’t gonna be a pretty picture.
Here’s another story about it that says he “met her” in person….so what IS THE TRUTH…if he claims to have met her, does that mean he was in on the hoax? Or was he set up to “meet” someone who planned the hoax? Guess we will see when the media frenzy uncovers the whole story.
http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax
You know, this is not like this is not a fairly “common” thing….
‘Catfishing:’ The phenomenon of Internet scammers who fabricate online identities and entire social circles to trick people into romantic relationships
By Hayley Peterson
PUBLISHED: 00:00 EST, 17 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:00 EST, 17 January 2013
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Whether it’s out of revenge, loneliness, curiosity or boredom, an emerging class of Internet predators cite dozens of reasons for scamming their way into romantic relationships with unsuspecting victims seeking love online.
By creating fake profiles on social networking sites, these predators trick people into thinking that they are someone else entirely. The fabricated life stories and photographs that they cobble together online often contain the experiences, friends, resumes and job titles that they wish were their own, providing a complete window into how these scammers want the world to see them – and how far they fall from those ideals.
The emergence of such elaborate social schemes online was brought to light in a shocking way in the 2010 documentary ‘Catfish,’ in which 28-year-old Nev Schulman fell in love with a gorgeous young woman’s Facebook profile and her voice over the phone – both of which turned out to belong to a middle-aged wife and mother.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264053/Catfishing-The-phenomenon-Internet-scammers-fabricate-online-identities-entire-social-circles-trick-people-romantic-relationships.html#ixzz2IGZzLn1U
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In a Yahoo article discussing why Te’o claimed, earlier in the year, that he had met the girl, then later stated he had never really personally met her, a source was quoted “That’s pretty much Brian Te’o, he’s a great guy, but he loves to add color.”
Ok, “he loves to add color” – Is that a new way of saying he lies through his teeth ????? What does that mean????
I’m concerned about the “source” who said that.
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is obviously the spath in this story. All that’s left to determine is whether Te’o was involved too.
If not, then Tuiasosopo’s motive was envy. He wanted to be Te’o.
We know that Tuiasosopo didn’t work alone, he had minions. They always do. So all the guys who are accusing Te’o could be minions. My spath had lots of people willing to say that I was crazy and suicidal. Including the police.
Agreed Sky ~ it was very confusing within the context of the article who the “source” would have been or how they even knew Te’o.
I’m always concerned when a person is not willing to put their name behind their comments.
This is sure a strange one. I do know that spath-daughter had fake profiles all over the web and I doubt if she ever “met” with people that may have contacted her. They would have seen some of the lies immediately. lol
Also, she let her whole senior class in high school think she was dying of aids, so if she tired of a online relationship, I can certainly see her “death”.