Facebook hell of young mother after profile is hijacked and pictures posted on porn website - News - Evening Standard
       

Facebook hell of young mother after profile is hijacked and pictures posted on porn website

When Becky Spraggs joined a social networking website, she hoped to keep friends up to date with family photos and news.

But unfortunately her friends are not the only ones looking at her photographs.

To her horror, the pictures and details she placed on Facebook have been copied on to a sex website.

Hijacked: Becky Spraggs, 22, warned of the dangers of Facebook after her pictures and profile details were posted on a sex website

Hijacked: Becky Spraggs, 22, warned of the dangers of Facebook after her pictures and profile details were posted on a sex website

Images of the 22-year-old mother of three appear alongside shots of another woman of similar looks engaged in sex acts and a message which reads 'I want to be used and abused'.

A fake profile claims Miss Spraggs is prepared to 'do anything' to become a porn actress and invites admirers to contact her manager on a mobile phone number.

The number actually belongs to Miss Spraggs's former partner, Paul Farrow, 32, the father of her young children. He has fended off more than 50 calls.

'It's devastating that someone could do something like this to me,' said Miss Spraggs at her home in Hertfordshire.

She signed up to Facebook a year ago and posted photos of herself and her children, who are all under four.

She has listed 167 'friends' on the website but did not realise her profile could be viewed by nearly three million others who have joined the same 'London' network.

Lies: Becky's photos appeared on an American sex fetish website which claimed she was an aspiring porn star

Lies: Becky's photos appeared on an American sex fetish website which claimed she was an aspiring porn star

Like many social networking website users, she did not know she could opt for more stringent privacy settings to stop others seeing her details.

Four of her photos appeared on June 28 on FetLife, a Canada-based members-only sex website.

'I feel totally exposed. I've got pictures of my kids in the bath and the perverts that did the porn site would have seen them,' she said.

'I'm really frightened by the thought of it. People don't realise what they expose themselves to when they go on Facebook.'

When Miss Spraggs contacted police she was told it had nothing to do with them and was referred to the Internet Watch Foundation, the British body which deals with reports of illegal content online.

It said it was unable to help as no laws had been broken.

Miss Spraggs has also tried to complain to the FetLife website's hosts but claims they have failed to respond to her emails.

No one was available for comment at FetLife.

Mr Farrow, a TV engineer, is appalled at Miss Spraggs's ordeal.

He said he believed the culprit was a 16-year-old girl who has a crush on him and wanted to damage his friendly relationship with his former partner.

He said: 'I cannot believe someone would stoop so low to do this. It's really malicious.'

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