

Records Point to Credit Card Fraud By Silicon Swindler Shirley Hornstein - jessicaSFNY
http://betabeat.com/2012/08/shirley-hornstein-shirls-credit-card-fraud-records/

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untog
The TC article made her look like a scheming fraudster, but this deeper dive
makes it sound like she has some serious mental/emotional issues. Perhaps it's
time to stop tweeting hate messages at her, and time to persuade her to sit
down with someone and talk through her mental state.

Interesting that the TC article made no mention of her living with a TC
employee, however.

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rhizome
It's all seeming a bit overblown though, no? Like someone is butthurt over it
and they're going to tear her down no matter what. Was there even any real
harm from her actions?

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richardjordan
I think that's it. I think it's embarrassment on behalf of the media folks who
should have known better but who were duped. A lot of the journalists in the
space enjoy the feeling of being on friendly terms and hanging out with the
movers and shakers in the industry. It's understandable I suppose. They're
only human. So there's a heavy internal bias towards believing you're special
and these people want to hang out with you, rather than here's a phony trying
to leach off you.

~~~
rhizome
The scorn of hangers-on is vicious indeed.

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ericfrenkiel
She clearly has deep-seated psychological issues. Her behavior reminds me of
another impostor, Azia Kim, who fooled her parents that she was accepted into
Stanford a few years back.

She packed up her things and went to Stanford.

She subsequently enrolled in NJROTC at Santa Clara University to explain why
there were no tuition bills.

Once at Stanford, she fooled a couple RAs and students to crash for 8 months
in a dorm.

What is most intriguing about impostors is the need to build lie upon lie.
Forge a Stanford report card to enroll at Santa Clara? Sure.

Photoshop your head into a photo with a celebrity? Yes, I think I can get away
with it.

I'm not sure if it can be said they're pathological liars, or they get so
wrapped up in their lies they must continue the farce.

Edit: of course, it should be noted that stealing is an unrelated (yet still
serious) issue. That just makes her a really awful person. A really awful
person who needs help.

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colmvp
"First, she told acquaintances she was engaged to NHL player Ryan Clowe..."

Seriously? WHY? That's one of the easiest facts to check.

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ChuckMcM
I don't know why, I do know that confidence people use the technique of
telling a lie that would be trivial to cross check because it shows authority.
The way it works on the human brain is that if you just said something that is
something is true, that a simple fact check would prove you to be a liar, and
nobody wants to be a liar, thus I can be confident what you said actually is
true because it would be stupid to lie about something I could so easily
verify. Oh and I won't verify it right now because I'll feel stupid if it is
true.

Now people do go off to get a drink or use the facilities and do a quick check
on their smartphone :-) And I know I tend to get snarky with folks who lie to
me if I'm aware and not minding my manners (its a weakness I am working on).

This story reflects a much more troubled person. Hope she can work it out
before it consumes her.

