In a Fox 25 News segment, anchor Maria interviews McAfee online security expert Robert Siciliano about a tragic case where the photo of fallen Staff Sergeant Matthew Pacino was stolen and used to create fraudulent Facebook and dating profiles. Siciliano explains that social‑media identity theft is a long‑standing problem, especially on platforms that allow free profile creation. He notes that charity scams surge during the holiday season and that scammers often exploit stolen images to solicit money, either through fake charitable appeals or dating‑site romance scams that culminate in wire‑transfer requests. The family of the soldier struggles to have the fake pages removed, highlighting the difficulty of getting large platforms like Facebook to act promptly. Siciliano mentions that while tools exist to scramble or watermark photos, publicly posted images are inherently vulnerable. He emphasizes that media attention can accelerate takedown efforts, but ultimately the “wild, wild web” leaves users exposed. The interview closes with holiday greetings and a teaser for a follow‑up segment featuring the family.
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Thank you, Kevin. Staff Sergeant Matthew Pacino gave his life for our country. He was inspired to join the military after the attacks on America on September 11th, 2001. Born and raised on the South Shore, the 34-year-old was killed while on a combat patrol in Afghanistan in November 23rd, 2009. His family still coping with the tragedy and shocked to discover that someone had stolen his picture and used it to create a fake Facebook page. So we'd like to bring in Robert Siciliano, McAfee Online online security expert. Robert, thanks for joining us at our Beacon Hills studio. How big of a problem is this, Robert?
So social media identity theft, uh, certainly is an issue, uh, on social media, Facebook, uh, anywhere where somebody can set up a free, uh, online profile. They can grab anybody's photo at any given time, posing as that person, unfortunately dead or alive, and, uh, say what they want until— it is taken down by that social media network. This is also a charity scam, and this time of the year, charity scams are on the rise.
That's terrible. How big of a problem is this? Have you heard about this before?
Uh, well, I'm hearing about charity scams all the time, and social media identity theft has been a problem online since day one. Right. Uh, unfortunately, uh, there's not a whole heck of a lot that can be done to prevent it up front. But certainly anyone can get those pages taken down. But as we're seeing in this case, it requires a certain amount of persistence.
Which is too bad. I mean, this is a grieving family, and they're going to grieve for the rest of their lives. The family says that they're having a really hard time getting this page taken down. Is that unusual for Facebook to take a while and for these people to be persistent in order for that to happen?
Yeah, when you have a billion people on Facebook using this, you know, getting the word out, you know, having them— them having to sift through the thousands and thousands of emails they're getting every single day. It will eventually come down, certainly with newscasts like this and others, the attention that it's getting. It's gonna come down eventually, but meanwhile, you know, we all, including the family, have to deal with, you know, the individuals that are committing this crime, is what it is.
That's too bad. They are also telling us that his picture was stolen and used to create a fake profile on a dating website. Yeah. I mean, what's the motivation behind that?
Yeah, Maria, you know, you, you, you, uh, you know, talk about the news every night of the week, and you know, right, there are a lot of, you know, unsavory characters out there, uh, and, um, the motivation in the end is generally money. Uh, the scammers will use the photo of a good-looking guy or a good-looking female, and they'll try to get money, you know, as a result of sympathy.
Yeah, but this is the dating website, Robert.
And in that case, you know, they're, they're posing as this soldier who, you know, probably has a story. You know, every soldier does. You know, they're fighting for our country, and they're trying to get money, you know, to date this person. So if I'm a scammer and I post this picture, I'm gonna say, "Hey, you know, I'm available. Are you looking for a date?" And then you meet this person online, and eventually they want to fly you to see that person. You wire money, Western Union. And this is happening right now. This time of the year, online dating scams are a big deal.
Now, those pictures were taken from his memorial website, a foundation that was set up in his name. Is there any way that anybody can protect pictures of, of us or our loved ones? Is there any way you can protect that, or is it really just the wild, wild west out there and anybody can take it?
Well, there are tools that can scramble photos. However, when photos are meant for public consumption, it's very difficult. So it is the wild, wild web, and unfortunately, due to the nature of it, We open ourselves up to these types of scams every day.
That's unfortunate for sure. Robert Siciliano, McAfee online security expert. We appreciate it as always. Thank you, Robert.
Thank you, Maria. Happy holidays.
To you too. Coming up on the Fox 25 News at 10, by the way, we're going to be hearing from the family at the center of this whole thing. Ahk, over to you.
