QLD Strange Behaviour from Unstable Facebook User - Defamation?

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Peter Pan

Member
18 February 2015
2
0
1
Hi All

Long story short.

A Person was having a go at a competition promotion by a well known company on Facebook saying it was illegal to hold such competitions as per the facebook terms, the individual entered the competition despite this, and the persons facebook wall is just a stream of such competition shares and entries.

I posted that the person was a Hypocrite due to her comments about the competitions being illegal and against facebook terms yet the person enters and shares the competitions.

The person then told me I was defaming her and she could tell I lived at a certain suburb (easily worked out via my profile) The individual then said I would be served by the 5th of Feb

No services or records are visible of my residential address yet some how the individual has located my address and sent me an incoherent letter saying I am to send a cheque for $25,000 and self ban myself from social media for 60 months.

Digging online I have found that this individual is constantly threatening individuals for defamation and seeking money or making demands for free products from companies.

The letter was very poorly written, asking me to delete my comment (I can't as the person blocked me on facebook so I can not even access the comment to delete it)

The individual lives in another state and appears to use such letters in a shotgun manner of threatening many people in the hope that someone may panic and give money.

As it stands I am happy to just ignore the letter at this stage, Considering it appears that the person is unstable what can be done if letters written by herself persist to be sent?

As for the threats I am not to concerned but more concerned that my details have been illegally accessed in some way
 

Ivy

Well-Known Member
10 February 2015
498
87
789
Hi Peter,

Have you had a look at the Law Answers blog post on defamation? Have You Been Defamed? What You Need to Know About Defamation Law in Australia - LawAnswers.com.au Blog Have a read of it, because it will give you some guidance on the issue.

Firstly, the person may have found your address through your voting enrolment details.

In regards to your substantive questions, my suggestion is this: try to remove the comment if you can. You have stated that you can't access the comment- can you contact Facebook or the administrator of the group/ page where the comment was posted and ask them to remove it?

Then, if the letter hasn't come from a solicitor, I personally wouldn't worry too much about it at this stage. I suggest that it would be difficult for her to show that you calling her a hypocrite has damaged her reputation.

However if you are still concerned about it, you may want to contact a lawyer and ask their advice.
 

Peter Pan

Member
18 February 2015
2
0
1
Hi Ivy

Firstly thank you for taking the time to respond, it is appreciated.

Not concerned at all about the actual letter.

The individual seems to send them to people but from speaking to others who have received them nothing official ever turns up or comes of it, other than a few more poorly written letters with higher demands.

As for the Electoral Roll being a possible source for my address, how does this work exactly? I am struggling to comprehend how you can pull the address of anyone from it, Surely this is a safety concern of some people, eg people who have left abusive relationships and gone into hiding.