ROMEO, Mich. – A Macomb County teen wanted to have a normal high school experience, focusing on classes, playing football, and making memories, not battling a false online identity.
But when someone created fake social media profiles using his photos and videos, the impersonation quickly went beyond harmless pranks. It fueled damaging rumors and escalated to the point that strangers confronted DJ in public.
Read the full story --> Macomb County teen’s world upended by total stranger who hijacked his life, spread rumors online
After months of online harassment, DJ Phillips, 19, of Washington Township, faced the person responsible in court, delivering a moving statement about how the ordeal shattered his reputation and affected his mental health.
Here’s what DJ said to the girl, who was 15 when she first started impersonating him online, in court:
“By impersonating me online, spreading lies, and soliciting photos while pretending to be me, (girl’s name) permanently changed my life by destroying my reputation, my confidence, and my sense of safety. This went on for three years, my entire high school experience, making me suicidal while I was still trying to keep my grades up to get into a good college.
She knew what she was doing because she blocked me and all my close friends from seeing her posts. I only discovered what she had been doing after asking someone who was questioning my character to show me the supposed account. During that time, school staff asked my coach about the negative image she portrayed, and I was forced to carry that weight on top of me, on top of everything else that was going on in my life. As a result of her actions, I have been bullied, threatened, humiliated in public, and even physically assaulted. All because of things I never said or did. I’ve lost friends, trust, and opportunities, including my dream of playing football, because I fear that the harassment might happen again.
One of the most damaging effects of what she did is that her actions and attention she drew toward me paved the way for anyone to say anything about me or post anything about me. And people will automatically believe it because of the false reputation she had already built. She made it so that lies about me spread instantly and stick permanently. For example, when I talk to someone new, they’ve said they already heard so many negative things about my so-called reputation, that they feel comfortable being disrespectful towards me, and they think it’s normal.
I’ve had people call me a f** in my face. Openly insult me and treat me as if I’m the person she pretended I was. Even though I could never imagine doing those things to another human being. I’ve also been called a s***, and a w**** because of the fake Snapchat accounts she created of me, pretending to be me, asking minors for inappropriate pictures. Some of them being some people’s girlfriends. Starting false romantic relationships with girls and flat-out being blatantly disrespectful to women as a whole. This created the norm that people thought they knew everything about me and knew what type of person I was without even talking to me. Reaching points where trying to explain myself won’t even work because people won’t give me the time of day to listen.
I would go on to blame them, but maybe if I heard the same bad things about a kid for three years straight, I would probably believe it, too. I never wanted anything more than a normal high school experience and to receive the friendship and love from others that I wanted to give them. Even my 88-year-old grandfather and grandmother were asked about the things they heard about me. And they asked me about it. Making me feel like I couldn’t even have a safe place to be at home with my family. As if it didn’t cause enough pain, the detective told us that he discovered evidence indicating she also created an online account impersonating my father. This goes on to show that she never planned to stop. She was just getting started.
I’ve even tried therapy, but I broke down, and I couldn’t finish. I can’t put into words the amount of pain and embarrassment I feel for myself and my family. Knowing I can never fix it makes me feel worse. It makes it hard for a day to go by where I don’t feel like a burden to them. For the past three years, I’ve thought about suicide. Constantly wondering if life would be easier if I didn’t have to live with the reputation she forced on me. She made me question my faith and damage my relationship with God. Leaving me feeling disconnected from something that used to give me hope. No matter what I do or how hard I try, my reputation seems to be set in stone and will forever haunt me for the rest of my life.
I wanted to go to college to get away from the reputation she built for me. But the school I attend, Michigan State University, gets most of its students from Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties. The same counties where her fake account became widely known. This makes me feel like the damage she has done to my reputation will follow me, robbing me of a fresh start I desperately needed.
This will also impact my future job and networking opportunities. Especially because I want to go into business, where strong relationships is essential. I will never have a clean slate with anyone for the rest of my life. And even if I do meet new people, I will always carry the thought that they see me as the person she portrayed me as. Not the authentic, respectful, and kind-hearted person I truly am.
I will never have the same respect from adults who will always question my character based on the false image she created. My family has suffered. My mental health has been shattered, and the damage to my name will never go away. And I ask myself, and I want to ask her, why me? I never did anything wrong to her. I never even knew her, and if I did, the thought of doing something like this to someone doesn’t even cross my mind. Words cannot describe the dark times she had sent me through. And I can’t explain the familiarity I have with the thoughts of suicide because of what you started. "
DJ Phillips