The Trib has news today that Sidney Crosby is the latest Pittsburgh athlete to be impersonated. Remember that this is not new to Pittsburgh fans. Ben Roethlisberger was famously impersonated. Even Pirates prospect Andy Phillips was burned.
The chick above set up a fake Myspace page, pretending that Sid was asking for money for a Minnesota park. Of course they’d use Myspace…because Friendster was obviously running slow at the moment.
“A message sent Monday from the MySpace page, “If You See Crosby,” asked for help to raise $3,000 for Phelps Park in Minneapolis. In exchange for a donation, preferably sent via Western Union, “Sid” promised to send a “game-played, autographed stick,” the message stated.
“That is not Sidney Crosby,” Penguins spokesman Tom McMillan said Tuesday. “He does not have a MySpace page.”
In fact, MySpace removed the site after receiving a complaint from Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency, which represents Crosby.
Fans who received the fundraising plea were asked to send money to Stephanie Biddlecom, 23, of Minneapolis, a small-time professional wrestler known as “Cerise Keller.”
Two Pens fans — one in Indiana County and another in Indianapolis — teamed up several months ago to expose the site after they learned Crosby had nothing to do with it.
“Could you picture Sidney Crosby asking for money over Western Union?” asked Kellie Taylor, 40, of Blairsville.
Taylor’s cyber-sleuth partner, Kristi Briggs, 38, filed a complaint Monday with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center in Richmond, Va.
“That’s fraud. It’s inexcusable,” Briggs said.
In an interview with the Tribune-Review, Biddlecom insisted Crosby was helping her raise money to rebuild a playground destroyed by a gang. She said she met Crosby three years ago when his cousin began dating her sister. Biddlecom said she speaks with Crosby daily.
Biddlecom said fans sent $500 yesterday, bringing the total to $2,250.”
I’m not doubting Sid’s preference for helping those in need, but this one is just all kinds of shady. And to those actually sending money in, you’re getting played.
Oh, and I just saw that my buddy Wysh has a screencap of the now-deleted hokey Myspace page. People are actually seding money to something that looks like that? Jeez, I’m doing it all wrong here.
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