I'm considered to be a good developer in Brazil and I'm very active in the local Startup scene.
I'm now being harassed by fake facebook/google accounts trying to defame me and my girlfriend.
I want to get the content down and sue for every damage he's been doing.<p>Long story short:
This year I made an MVP for a Israeli/Brazilian guy without getting paid (plus having actually paid other developers to help me as well).
Later I realized I was not the only victim (the guy is a serial con man in the startup scene, with several fake investment news all around the web), so I exposed the fraud on facebook, mentioning every person he has tricked before. From that moment on, he couldn't fool anyone anymore.
He swore revenge.<p>Now, "Someone" has discovered my girlfriend is a former porn star and has made a video with mixed content (old porn video + pictures of us) and spread all over the startup scene (mostly facebook groups and directly to many company emails).
This attack has made my life a living hell yesterday, with over 14K views and actually having me hospitalized.<p>I can already point he's most likely the author (as dozens of other startup scene people here in Brazil can say this as well) with many indirect proofs, I just don't have the IP proof coming from Facebook/Google.
Also, he is in California now, so I don't even know if I should start looking at any USA (FBI or what?) forms.<p>I've asked Facebook to take down the fake profile (and lots of friends helped report too), but it's still up.
Same thing with the blogspot account holding the pictures and video.
The fake gmail account used to spread the video via email (and the Dropbox account used for this) is still active, too.<p>HN, what should I do??? Where should I start?<p>ps: this story is pretty real and you can check me out and contact me at roberto.cr
First of all, this situation sucks because this person is not just defaming you, but dragging a loved one into his shitty antics. I really feel sorry for you guys! I think the best thing to do is write a short blog post explaining why someone would find shady things about you and your girlfriend. Don’t expose too many details, just a short neutral story like you’ve written here. When people ask you questions directly about your alleged pasts, refer to this blog post. For the rest of it, ignore the badmouthing. It will diminish fast enough once you don’t give this person a reason to continue.<p>Continue to be awesome, not only is this a much quicker way to rebuild your reputation (although I think you’re exaggerating how much people care about these kind of things), it’s also much, much more rewarding.<p>Remember: Karma’s a bitch. These people will get what they deserve in the end.
It's true what they say about fighting with pigs. You both get dirty but they like it.<p>If you know your legal boundaries well, you could expose this person further. (I notice you haven't mentioned their name etc.)