Not sure what they are drinking at the RM water cooler, but it’s turning everyone into online transvestites.
Now the enterprise risk management group CareWeb is using a stolen photo of a female model to act as their PR front. The profile for “Sophia Wright” on LinkedIn includes this (really, really obvious) stolen photo:
Sure enough, quick detective work finds the headshot is taken from a cropped photo used as a “stock” photo for a generic blogging platform. The photo is included in the default template, and it’s expected the user will swap out the photo with a real one after customizing the blog. Some haven’t done that, leaving us a trail all over the interwebs with this same woman and her overeager, grinning girlpal:
There’s too many to post, so I’ll just leave the one. But, trust me, she’s as everpresent as G31000’s “Madeliene LeBlanc.” The fact that “Ms. Wright” uses a gmail account is another hint; on Gmail, no one knows you are a man posing as a woman.
L: Mohammed Nasser Barakat. R: Fadi Al-Khatib
In this case, the hand up the rear end of the sockpuppet appears to belong to one of two male suspects: Mohammed Nasser Barakat, of the United Arab Emirates, or Fadi Al-Khatib of Amman Jordan. And, as usual, the two share the ironic credentials that make this latest incident as hilarious as the last one. For example, Mr. Al-Khatib is a “Certified Fraud Examiner” under the ACFE . Both allege to be risk experts, but neither appears to have assessed the risks of faking a profile on the internet.
The investigation is still early yet, so it’s not yet a confirmed which of these men is behind the fake Sophia Wright account, or if it’s a third party entirely. So far evidence is pointing to Mr. Barakat. When confronted, “Ms. Wright” insisted, “I work for [CareWeb] and it’s not a fake account. My marketing team will get back to you for more details.”
I have written to Mr. Al-Khatib about the situation, and he’s promised an investigation.
We will see.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 30 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
