Yahoo!
reviews and complaints

Yahoo! Bangalore - Corrupt, Vengeful & Unprofessional HR

Yahoo! is previous employer . My prospective employer used a background checking agency (without my permission). And this background checking agency called Yahoo! and Yahoo! wanted this background checking people to write an email.

I did not give my prospective employer permission to contact Yahoo! AND I NEVER GAVE YAHOO! PERMISSION TO REVEAL MY DETAILS TO ANYONE, LET ALONE STRANGERS. I only came to know that my prospective employer used a background checking agency when my job was declined based on the feedback from Yahoo!.

It was easy for me to get the name the background check agency, and I knew someone who works there, so I was able to get the reply-email that Yahoo! send my prospective employer. It is shocking to say the least, and the woman at Yahoo! deliberately tried to ruin my career.

I'm thinking about whether to make the reply public.

I woke up today and to my surprise my debit card had been charged over 20 times and I only used the amount of 18.90 one time. If I went to my bank and they notified the security dept and branch manager, in turn they found your

Phone number and we were given a recording to e mail you, I have been robbed for over 400.00 in one night. My card has been breached and to top that off I have someones name of hassan is on my account now, who is hassan. If this is not resolved to my satisfaction immediately I will start a class action lawsuit against face book, today! 5-21-13. My phone number is [protected] ty mr. James spangler

Dear Friends,

My email address had been hacked. I have reset my password and I hope this problem does not arise again.
The hacker went through my personal information and emailed everyone in my contact list with the intention of getting money transferred to a bank account. He/ She was using my email account to send messages and an alternate "[protected]@yahoo.com" email account to receive emails.

His emails were as follows :

Please I need your help, I'm in a fix. Can I get a loan of 162, 637.95 rupees which is $3000You'll have it back as soon as possible. I lost my bank card, I can't access the ATM as planned. I'll appreciate what you can give if not all. It's really urgent, Get back to me, I'll advise on how to send the money to me. Keep this between us.

Upon replying to him, he/ she would address you as if it were me addressing you in a specific recognizable way, meaning that my past recorded emails were checked and the history learnt and addressed everyone in the same manner - for Example I had my son reply saying "Ok, when and where to transfer the money " and the reply was as follows :

From: sunita giridhar
Date: 14 May 2013 05:33:47 PM GMT+05:30
To: "[protected]@hotmail.com"
Subject: Re: Urgent !

My dearest betu Manish, Please note that he has gone through my previous emails to my son and seen how I address him = betu

Thanks for your urgent response to my request, here is my account details stated below: Please go ahead and transfer the money to the below stated details

BANK NAME: HDFC
NAME: ANSARI ENTERPRISIES
CURRENT ACCOUNT NO: [protected]
PAN: BCXPA0183J
IFSC: 0000114
BRANCH: ANDHERI (W)

Once more i thank you wholeheartedly for your support, hope to hear from you soon with the transfer slip.

Your loving
Mom

** PLEASE NOTE THE "FROM" EMAIL ADDRESS - SUNIT"E"[protected]@HOTMAIL.COM **

Furthermore, the banks that I have an account with, have been contacted and were approached for fraudulent activity.
Please IGNORE any emails requesting for money from me.

Thanks and Regards,

Sunita Giridhar
+[protected]

How to stop a scammer looting members doing scam business from many years yahoo should
Ban this person doing scam business via yahoogroup via in the name of yahoomails clicking jobs
showing free jobs in back office and charging members and runs away

this are the email he send to the members after charging the poor online members struggling for extra income [protected]@yahoo.in this is the password [protected] this is his email id [protected]@gmail.com, india.[protected]@yahoo.com,
for this clicking jobs he is charging in bank nifty transfer 900 Rupees for 2 ids per member giving them false promise of in-come of 12000/- Rupees per month, and if the members do not give him new members within 7 days he blocks the working id and then stops the communications of mobiles and not replying emails also, like that he force's each member after taking the amount to bring 7 members or 15 more or he gives notice that after a week I will block your income yahoomail ids, ( a kind of black mailing) below is his bank accounts asking members to put the amount at this account by nifty
below are his bank accounts were he is asking the members to deposit the amount before fooling them with the false emails

RABIN DAS – IDBIBANK – A/C NO – [protected] – BRANCH – SODEPUR – IFS Code: IBKL0001148
ACC Details : RABIN DAS – IDBIBANK – A/C NO – [protected] – BRANCH – SODEPUR – IFS Code: IBKL0001148

RABIN DAS – ICICIBANK – A/C NO – [protected] BRANCH _ DUNLOP – IFSC Code : ICIC0009000

SCB A/c No. [protected]
his mobile number is [protected]
like that I AM NOT THE ONLY BUT THEIR ARE MORE THAN 50 MEMBERS UNDER ME MY DOWNLINE AND MY DOWNLINE MEMBERS TO MEMBERS ALL ARE IN ANGAR, WHAT TO DO HE IS AT KOLKATA
SEE THE URL BACK OFFICE OF YAHOO GROUP OFFERING FREE JOBS AND CHARGING

http://www.tracesmart.co.uk. TraceSmart.co.uk, Tracesmart.
Publishing families names. What is shocking is the site owners hide. The claim below. The are internet terrorists. Laws state there should be opt out policies. Site will get negative internet image if they don't take name off.

TraceSmart owners hide. Illegal site. Hosting company hides too. All against ICANN reporting laws.

Domain name:
tracesmart.co.uk

Registrant:
Tracesmart Limited

Registrant type:
UK Limited Company, (Company number: 3827062)

Registrant's address:
Global Reach Dunleavy Drive
Cardiff
Cardiff
CF10 5SF
United Kingdom

Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = LIVEDOMAINS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 26-Jan-2004
Expiry date: 26-Jan-2014
Last updated: 02-Feb-2012

Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.

Name servers:
pdns1.ultradns.net
pdns2.ultradns.net
pdns3.ultradns.org
pdns4.ultradns.org
pdns5.ultradns.info
pdns6.ultradns.co.uk 204.74.115.1 2610:00a1:1017:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001

Disclaimer
WHOIS lookup made at 17:21:06 31-Mar-2013

--
This WHOIS information is provided for free by Nominet UK the central registry
for .uk domain names. This information and the .uk WHOIS are:

Copyright Nominet UK [protected].

You may not access the .uk WHOIS or use any data from it except as permitted
by the terms of use available in full at http://www.nominet.org.uk/whoisterms, which
includes restrictions on: (A) use of the data for advertising, or its
repackaging, recompilation, redistribution or reuse (B) obscuring, removing
or hiding any or all of this notice and (C) exceeding query rate or volume
limits. The data is provided on an 'as-is' basis and may lag behind the
register. Access may be withdrawn or restricted at any time.

Hosting company

inetnum: 85.118.235.0 - 85.118.235.31
netname: CC-UKIG-01
descr: U.K.I.G. Ltd.
country: GB
admin-c: CC2179-RIPE
tech-c: CC2179-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: COMCOLO-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

role: Commercial Collocation Ltd. Hostmaster
address: Midcity House
17-21 Furnival Gate
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S1 4QR
remarks: trouble: Problems to: [protected]
admin-c: KA830-RIPE
tech-c: KA830-RIPE
mnt-by: COMCOLO-MNT
nic-hdl: CC2179-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered

route: 85.118.232.0/21
descr: Commercial Colo UK
origin: AS30933
mnt-by: COMCOLO-MNT
source: RIPE # Filtered

Yahoo is claiming that someone (always in a 3rd world country somewhere...) was hacking into my account. It happened already few times with my Yahoo account(s)- no matter how long and complicated my passwords are, and researching this issue for quite a while, leads me to the understanding that-- Sorry, no hackers here, but Yahoo itself! With shady service and illegal conduct, trying to force me to change my email into Beta, or force me to purchase “extra“ protection package, or obtain my phone number and other personal details (to add to data they are selling to databases).
Bottom line- Yahoo is horrible, so their Beta version, so their new CEO…

Purchased a pulseoximeter ..Fingertip pulse oximeter, CMS50DL, oxygen meter. Product worked for less than 10 days. Customer wanted me to spend moneys to return product and pay for postage and insurance. Product was a $22.95 USD product. I asked for a replacement and was issued an RMA but no redemption for return costs. Company told me that "they made only a few dollars on this product and would pay for return to China." This is a life critical piece of equipment so be warned .. there are plenty of good vendors out there to purchase from .. JUST NOT THIS ONE.

Yahoo Fails to Restore Millions of Deleted Emails

This is a warning to back up your Yahoo emails. Over the weekend thousands of users had their entire set of folders and emails deleted. At least download your contacts list to a CSV file.

This is the press release issued today:

Yahoo Fails to Restore Millions of Deleted Emails

Many thousands of long term users of Yahoo Mail have just had their entire set of folders and emails deleted due to an upgrading snafu on Friday / Saturday March 1 / 2. This includes even paying Plus members.

It appears that during the upgrade Yahoo technicians decided to upgrade all Classic users to the (largely disliked) New email system. Naturally most declined this upgrade and so Yahoo deleted their entire accounts including all folders, emails going back 10 to 20 years, and contact lists.

I lost 13 years of folders and emails - many from long dead friends.

Many others report losing important documents, files and correspondence from business and personal contacts. One used his account to track online orders for running a delivery business. All have now been lost.

Naturally Yahoo is not contactable via anything other than a pro-forma. Naturally the pro-forma for restoring deleted emails fails to cater for this emergency.

Many members have requested restoration of their folders and emails. But they only have 24-48 hours to do so. Then all is lost anyway.

I requested a complete restoration immediately. And like others we received the following auto-response:

===

Mail - Messages disappeared, unknown reason [Incident: -deleted-]
Sunday, 3 March, 2013 19:37
From: This sender is Domain Keys verified "Yahoo! Customer Care"
To: [-deleted-]@yahoo.com

Response
**This is an automated response**

We have attempted to restore your mailbox using the information that you provided. If some of the emails were not restored, it is because they were not available in the snapshot used.

After we received your request, we looked for a copy of what your Yahoo! Mail account looked like at a specific point in time just prior to your requested restore time. Your entire mailbox (including your Inbox and other folders) will look exactly like it did at the time the snapshot was taken.

Since we are only able to restore your entire mailbox, there are some limitations to what we are able to do when restoring:

- We cannot restore any specific message(s) or folder(s).

- We cannot restore any message(s) lost while composing.

- We cannot undo this restoration or restore messages lost because of this restoration.

- Emails received after the recovery date will no longer be available.

**Please do not reply to this email, as no one will receive your message.**

===

YET NO FOLDERS NOR EMAILS WERE RESTORED - ALL HAS BEEN LOST - 13 YEAR'S WORTH FOR ME, UP TO 20 YEAR'S WORTH FOR OTHERS.

This is utterly unacceptable. Yahoo has remained silent. Meanwhile it has been opined by some that Yahoo technicians are staging a protest against their CEO demanding that they commute to Yahoo HQ to work and not to work at home.

Certainly there are co-incidences of timing. If members do not request a restoration withing the 24-48 hour gap then restorations cannot be carried out - period. Apparently Yahoo's backups do not last longer than 48 hours. And the major snafu occurred on Saturday morning (UK-time).

As far as I am concerned - and I hear rumours of others' - there will be many abandoning Yahoo Mail (and its other services) in the next few months. Certainly for many this is the final nail in the coffin of using Yahoo Mail.

C.J.Brady
London, UK.

Yahoo mail lottery

124 stockport road, long sight, manchester m60 2db - united kingdom

Telephone: +[protected] fax: +[protected]

this is to inform you that you have won prize money of nine hundred and fifty thousand united states dollars ($950, 000. 00) for 2013 prize promotion which is organized by yahoo, aol, windows live & other social network.

Yahoo and microsoft collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to yahoo and hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. six people are selected to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the selected winners.

payment of prize and claims

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her settlement center. yahoo prize award must be claimed no later than 14th days, from date of draw notification. any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.

Please be informed that you’re cheque (check) of the sum of us$950, 000. 00 (nine hundred and fifty thousand united states dollars) is now with your fiduciary agent in your allotted settlement centre insured and issued with your email address which won you this prize, therefore you should contact your fiduciary agent with your detail information so that they will expedite actions for the processing of your fund transfer.

Stated below are your identification numbers:

Batch number: mfi/08/apa-43658,

Reference number: [protected]

Award winning number: [protected]

These numbers fall within the south africa location file, you are requested to contact your fiduciary agent in south africa and send your winning identification numbers to him;

Fiduciary agent/claims manager contact information:

Tel: + [protected]

Fax: +[protected]

Contact person: mr. simon rhossor

E-mail: [protected]@email.ua

You are advised to send the following information to your fiduciary agent to facilitate the release of your fund to you. terms and conditions applied.

1. full name……………………………

2. country……………………………….
3. contact address...
4. telephone number…………………

Congratulations! once again.

Yours in service,

Dr. johnson smith.

(co-ordinator yahoo/msn award lottery promotion, manchester, united kingdom)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warning!

Do not tell people about your prize award until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claims.

You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to be other organizations of yahoo inc. this is solely to collect your personal information from you and lay claim over your winning. in event that you receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to you, kindly delete it from your mailbox and give no further correspondence to such person or body.

Yahoo shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned. pls send your reply to your claims manager email address: [protected]@email.ua

© 2013 yahoo! reward. all rights reserved.

My yahoo msngr id is : [protected]@yahoo.com I have been receiving threatening messages from yahoo msngr id :[protected]@yahoo.com
A man is using this id : [protected]@yahoo.com and threatening me from this id. Saying that he will reach my house using my id.i have been getting threaths from this man. I tried to save a girl, which he did not like .He wants to sexually abuse a girl. I stopped him from doing it .He is annoyed and wants to take revenge with me.
Today he has also copied / send my conversation history from my chat ( with id - malinikajarekar, yahoo messenger) to one of his account .May be yahoo or gmail. I do not know where he has copied my conversation history. Please help me :
1.) Delete my account : [protected]@yahoo.com ( yahoo msngr)
2.) Delete his account : malinikajarekar ( yahoomsgngr)
3.) Delete my facebook account : [protected]@yahoo.com
4.) Delete my email id :[protected]@yahoo.com

HUMBLE REQUEST : Please help me in the way that no one can use this id’s to find my address.
Is it possible to trace as to where he has copied my conversation history ? And delete it.
I NEED YOUR URGENT HELP. PLEASE HELP ME.

I REQUEST YOU PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ANY INFORMATION ON THE ABOVE MENTIONED IDS ([protected]@yahoo.com)
TO ANYONE WHO IS ASKING FOR.
ALSO, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANY NOTIFICATION OF THIS LETTER I HAVE SENT, TO THE ID : [protected]@yahoo.com REGARDING MY COMPLAINT. I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE ANY ISSUE ABOUT IT. I NEED PEACE OF MIND.

I hope that you will help me. I need your urgent help so that i would be able to concentrate on my work.

Thanks and regards.

To
Consumer complant board
From
Santhsh D B
Subject “ Regarding the verification details about this message”

Respected sir
I am from the Karnataka state that I need the details about the address attached below
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTACHED ADRESS BELOW FOR DETAILS IT IS TRUE OR FAKE ADRESS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The operations Investigation Manager Cyber crime bureau Department.
Position Held: Operation investigation Manager.
Address:PO Box 214. Bed ford BEDS MK42 9RX London, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
E-mail:cyber.[protected]@gmail.com
MOTTO:INVESTIGATING CYBER CRIME IS OUR PRIORITY.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the above address details because I have some verification I have to do with above address through e-mail so I need the verification detail the above address is true of the same Department address and also the send the details it is True or Fake of this address.

This is the message I am sending to the consumer complant board the further required purpose my e-mail ID is [protected]@yahoo.in

Thanking You
SanthoshDB Place : Bangalore. Date : 02/02/2013

To
Consumer complant board
From
Santhsh D B
Subject “ Regarding the verification details about this message”

Respected sir
I am from the Karnataka state that I need the details about the address attached below
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ATTACHED ADRESS BELOW FOR DETAILS IT IS TRUE OR FAKE ADRESS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The operations Investigation Manager Cyber crime bureau Department.
Position Held: Operation investigation Manager.
Address:PO Box 214. Bed ford BEDS MK42 9RX London, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
E-mail:cyber.[protected]@gmail.com
MOTTO:INVESTIGATING CYBER CRIME IS OUR PRIORITY.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the above address details because I have some verification I have to do with above address through e-mail so I need the verification detail the above address is true of the same Department address and also the send the details it is True or Fake of this address.

This is the message I am sending to the consumer complant board the further required purpose my e-mail ID is [protected]@yahoo.in

Thanking You
SanthoshDB Place : Bangalore. Date : 02/02/2013

To consumercomplantboard.com
From
Santhosh db India country

Subject :” Regarding YAHOO, AOL & WINDOWS LIVE, MSN this 2011 YAHOO and MICRO SOFT news of winner “
Respected sir
I have to inform you that I have got the e-mail to my main ID that I have won the prize money of one Million British Pounds 2011 Prize promotion which as organized by collects of email addresses by online only six people are selected every two years to benefit from this promotion and I have selected winners.

So I need the details about the yahoo mail lottery 2011 MICROSOFT YAHOO ANNIVERSARY AWARD NOTIFICATION details to know that I have selected for the this selected promotion and send me the details about this sending e-mail.
And also send me the detail how to check the e-mail of winner notification of yahoo award of e-mail which as camed to me on the e-mail and how to check the yahoo promotion award of e-amil.
I am sending this e-mail to the uk.news.yahoo.com to verify and I need the details about this message, my e-mail ID is [protected]@yahoo.in

Thanking you Santhosh D B 24/01/2013

Dear Sir,

I have not received my Pan Card, it has been returned undeliverd

Name: D LATHAMMA

PAN: BNQPD5043Q

Status: Return to Origin.

Name of Courier Agency: First Flight Couriers Pvt. Ltd

Airway bill no. ZB2088416

Address: D LATHAMMA, D/O:- D NAVUR RAJU, NC KANDRIGA (PENDEREDDY PALLI ), HASTA KAVERI (PO), BALAYAPALLI (MD), NELLORE (DT), ANDHRAPRADESH - 524131.

My mobiles number- +91 [protected], [protected].

You are requested to please confirm me as soon as possiable and resend Pan Card to my comunnication address. For your reference i am atteched the nsdl traking details.

Acknowledgement Number : [protected]
Name : DOMMARAJU LATHAMMA
Category : Individual
Status : Your PAN card has been dispatched on 18-DEC-2012 by First Flight Couriers Pvt. Ltd courier vide airway bill no. ZB2088416, at the address for communication* indicated by you in the application.

Permanent Account Number (PAN) : BNQPD5043Q

NOTE- PLEASE RESEND MY PANCARD THROUGH INDIAN POST
THANKING YOU
D LATHAMMA
Mobiles Number- +91 [protected], [protected].

Buyer beware Ebay Mr Mohammad askar, [protected]@yahoo.com, stuffonlinejr( 4 )

Reference to order Receipt No: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This charge will appear on your credit card statement as payment to PAYPAL *EBAY. Merchant information
mohammad askar
Instructions to merchant
None provided
Shipping method
Not specified
Description Unit price Qty Amount
Goods
$80.00 USD 1 $80.00 USD

Total: $80.00 USD
Sony Digital Pulse Code Modulation PCM-501ES Audio Processor
Item Id: [protected]
End time: Dec-29-12 17:19:55 PST
Seller:
stuffonlinejr (3)
100.0% Positive Feedback
Member since Aug-06-11 in United States
Location: SC, United States

Listing Status: This message was sent while the listing was active.
Item condition:Used
Ended:Dec 21, 2012 14:28:20 PST
Price:US $80.00
No additional import charges at delivery!This item will be shipped through the Global Shipping Program and includes international tracking. Learn more Standard Shipping | See details
Item location:Lexington, South Carolina, United States
Seller:stuffonlinejr (4) | Seller's other items

Please keep this receipt number for future reference. You'll need it if you contact customer service at mohammad askar or PayPal.
SELLER DO NOT HAD THE ITEM. BUYER BEWARE. LIE TO CUSTOMER.

Sir my Yahoo account has been temporarily locked. I forget my secret questions of my account. But i am author of my account which ID is sami_physics. I submit you my account information which i fill in form when i make my ID. First Name = Abdul Last Name = Sami Country = Pakistan Postal Code = 38800 Region = Punjab Date of Birth = 02-April-1978 Gender = Male Language = English Password = pakistanchalo Now you can check all this information in my account, So you will find that i m author of my ID. Someone try to theft my account by giving wrong password more than three times. So my account has been locked. Please open my account immediately. I shall be thankfull to you.

Hello again everyone,

Naila safdar is a fraud person. Playing with words. She cheated me. Her and her familiy are robber. She told me so many bad words. And she told me if i lodge a complaint then, she posted those shameless words by my name.

She is a robber, very shameless women, her total family take my huge money and now, when i want my money. All are deny. And also told me bad words.

Be aware. She behave you nicely before placing her order. After half payment mutual agreement, they deny to send you rest of the money, after collecting her goods, and told you shameless words.

I provide her $10, 000 USD goods. And she send me just $5000 USD.
I lost my $5000 USD.
I never forgive her.

Her Email address is:

[protected]@yahoo.com

Be aware all of you specially muslims.
Hina

Be aware of this medicine supplier, he seems to be trustworthy but he is just a scammer I send him 300usd and since then I didnt get any answer from him luck. [protected]@yahoo.com

Fight against cyberbullying!

This is a complaint I am filing in general against internet companies that does nothing to remove negative reports put on you from someone else and then the innocent party that did not write these demfamatory, slanderous reports gets blamed, wrongfully accused and slandered over the internet for no reason and yet there is no law that states that if you want to be removed from the internet than these companies like google, yahoo, bing, aol, earthlink, netzero, fraudbug, [redacted], badbusiness, 123people.com, pipl.com, spokeo.com, hingnet.com, checkmate.com, peoplesearch.com, peoplesmart.com, peoplefinders.com, 1&1 domain.com, spider.com, do not do anything if you don't want your information on the internet and someone else put it there these companies refuse to take it off or companies like [redacted] or cavetemptor a website by a lawyer named sam glover that will use your name and addvertise your name without your permission and if you complain they threaten you away. There should be a law where there is no such thing as your personal information having to be public like your name address phone number etc. These are your personal information including e-mail and cell number you should not have to give like google will always ask for your cell number. It seems like there is no such thing as privacy any more. People will write negative stuff about people even if they do not know who they are. Cyber bullying laws should be strickter just like that of murder or any other serious law. Internet maybe a place where people can vent freely but there should be a code of ethics of some sort for slander and defamatory language use and writing fake stories to use against innocent people for no reason. That is why so many people get hurt because there is so much miss use of the internet now a days. Bullying and harrasing people to get their personal information should be prohibited and slandering people for no reason should also be prohibited from the internet or anywhere. Freedom of speech is there yes but how you use that law does make a big impact on society. If you want to impower people instead of just being negative or point fingers than people should use more sensetive and appropriate language that does not hurt or threat or slander people for no reason. Promote more peace instead of the violence! The internet should be a positive expericence but it seems as though everywhere I read something most of the time it is negative. Trying to purposely hurt someone will only backfire on you. As they say what goes arround comes arround. The more positive energy you put out into the world the more the light will shine. Please stop the cyberbullying, the threats, the violence! Enough allready! Fight against bullying and make a difference!

This is a review of the Yahoo Group, Real Advice For Real Love, which is an online support group. The group works like a message board where someone will start a discussion topic about an issue in their life and others will respond. While this group is not necessarily a legitimate business, it is an entity through which I actively sought support over the course of two years. Given what transpired in that group I feel it pertinent to make others aware of what happened.

I originally joined that group because I was dealing with past and present issues in my life relating to family, relationships with females, and abuse. An older woman initially responded to my posts and, since she seemed pretty knowledgeable, I developed a level of trust with her. However, as time passed and I continued to post, I noticed she was not at all empathizing with me but was rather trivializing my experiences and in fact subtly defending my attackers most notably the ones that were female. She would also make a lot of smart and off color remarks that seemed to take away from the seriousness of my situation. Regardless, I remained with the group hoping that if I remained active, responsive, and respectful, I would eventually get the understanding and consolation that I was looking for. Sometime after however, a few female members wrote harsh and attacking responses. Upon expressing my disapproval, the older woman just said they give tough advice. Then several other attacks came and they were increasingly harsh, dismissive, and blaming. In addition, the moderator in response to my post about a very abusive girlfriend said I just have an attitude problem with women. Again the older woman came to his and the group’s defense saying they were just trying to help me and I ‘didn’t want to hear the explanation’. At this point my anger was through the roof. I finally came to my senses and left the group. Given the two years I spent there sharing intimate details of my life, I was beside myself and returned a few months later to vent my anger and dissatisfaction over how I was treated. The older woman, however, had left and sometime later, I discovered she started her own group, which I believe is called Advice for Living and Loving. After reading my post, she wrote a rebuttal in her group where she basically smeared me saying they tried to help me, tried to tell me it was my attitude that caused others to hurt me, that I just liked to blame everyone else for my problems, and that I need psychiatric help. She also copied and pasted posts I made in the original group that she felt were most incriminating all to make me look as bad as possible. That was my last encounter with her and with either of those groups.

I have to say this was one of the worst experiences I have ever had. I have never encountered human behavior so crass and so blatantly cruel. This group severely diminished my already broken spirit as well as my trust in people. In fact, I had to see a therapist just to deal with the confusion and anger that this group caused me. This was by no means a case where they flat out disagreed with me and let me know up front or, as she claimed in her rebuttal, could not in good-faith help me because I was too far gone, nor was it run-of-the-mill trolling you tend to see on other message boards. As far as I can see this was a calculated attempt to break my spirit over time so they could watch me crumble until I snapped. In fact, I strongly suspect that the older woman disguised herself under different usernames to attack me. I also recall that the attacks seemed to come when I was at my worst. As a result, it is absolutely imperative that I warn people about this malicious and horrible group.

I should also point out that upon my returning to the group, I noticed others getting harsh and ignorant responses by the supposed new clan of regulars in the group. Therefore I do not feel that my experience was necessarily an isolated incident. As far as I can see this group is a callous and hostile place that can cause extensive emotional damage and truly bring out the worst in someone. Given the façade of being a place of support, I consider this group to be even worse than a hate group where the agenda is at least made apparent. As for the moderator, I can’t tell whether he is either oblivious to his group’s harmfulness, merely doesn’t care, or actively participates to make it harmful. Regardless, I would sleep much better knowing this group was dismantled (along with associate groups like that woman’s group) and that everyone involved in this little network be held accountable for all the pain they have caused.

Fortunately, I am doing better now especially after consulting more trustworthy resources to actively speak out about what happened to me. I have even become an active participant in online support where I have been able to make a positive difference in people’s lives. In order, however, to get full closure from this horrible experience, I feel it necessary to post this review, to notify cyberbullying and internet safety sites of this group in order to have it flagged, and to once and for all put this group in its place.

Looking back, I can say I am much wiser now and, in spite of how clever, covert and manipulative the group was, I can better appreciate how being in a vulnerable state of mind affected my better judgment thus preventing me from seeing red flags that became apparent far too late. While this posting is meant for my personal closure I certainly hope that it will effectively inform others, particularly those considering getting online support, how dangerous the internet can be and how important it is to be cautious in whom you entrust in getting support.