Janie van der Heijden was a victim of identity fraud: ‘My face was stolen’ | RTL Street
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Janie van der Heijden, 69, can be heard from Tuesday on Omroep MAX’s five-part podcast series “Stolen Face”. In the podcast, Janie, who herself has been a victim of identity fraud, takes the listener into the world of scams, fraud, deepfakes and other forms of stolen faces. Will she be able to find her face thieves?
“I hope for more awareness and the beginning of a solution.”
Janie first becomes aware of the situation when she suddenly receives all sorts of apps, direct messages, and other messages from people asking her about diet pills and so-called Gummy Bears, among other things. Janie discovers that her name and image are being used to sell weight loss products. All sorts of messages and ads appear on social media featuring a fake Janie advertising weight loss pills.
In the new podcast, Janie searches for the people who stole her face. She gets help from famous hackers, cybersecurity experts, lawyers, and victims. Janie wants to know how this type of fraud is still so profitable and why no one is taking responsibility. For example, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is unresponsive, and the police don’t seem to have the authority to do anything about it. So Janie decides to turn to politics and ask for help.
He. She All Holland Pack-zicht sees the podcast as a “personal quest.” “My face has been stolen and that’s upsetting, but the real victims are of course the people who have been deceived, misled or put at health risk by my face and all these other famous faces. I hope for more awareness and the beginning of a solution,” says Jani.
Someone who unfortunately also has experience with identity fraud is Bridget Masland. She tells more about this on The BLVD Podcast:
“Travel specialist. Typical social media scholar. Friend of animals everywhere. Freelance zombie ninja. Twitter buff.”