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Flight Attendant Hits on Teen Girl via Facebook

by Lee Bains on October 7, 2009 at 06:01 PM


Perhaps Australian airline Jetstar should look across the Pacific a little more often. If it were to have done so, it would have noticed stateside corporations' prevalent bans of social networking sites, and potentially saved themselves from some considerable embarrassment.

According to News.com.au, a woman identified only as Elizabeth has complained to the airline of a male flight attendant who, she claims, harassed her 15-year-old daughter after spotting her on a flight. According to Elizabeth, neither she nor her two daughters gave their names to the man during the flight last month. Regardless, the 15 year old got home, checked her Facebook, and found a friend request from the guy. After she denied the request, he continued to pester the girl with messages, her mother says.

According to The Age, the creepiest of those messages read as follows:

I've never wanted to add a 16-year-old before... um, well you seem quite mature maybe we might come friends. Here is my number....do you even have a phone? What area do you live in?

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway announced today that the airline had launched an internal investigation and had temporarily suspended the flight attendant. Understanding that the would-be suitor had obtained the girl's name from her boarding pass, Westaway apologized on behalf of Jetstar but said, "We need to get our employee's side of the story in regard to that. He's a good employee. He's been with the company for over two years." Two years, huh? You might want to check your boy's sent messages, Mr. Westaway. [From: News.com.au/FOX News and The Age]
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Facebook Crime and Punishment

Facebook Crime and Punishment

    Blackmail
    Sending any personal info or incriminating pictures to someone on Facebook is a huge mistake for many reasons. One of the worst possible outcomes is getting blackmailed for money, sex, or, well, anything these sickos dream up. Really, whether they're using a fake profile or not, it's a horrible idea. Read up on the story of an 18-year-old who blackmailed 31 male classmates after he posed as a girl and asked for nude pictures. That's lesson enough.

    Impostors
    Sure, it can be harmless to impersonate a celeb online or create a fake profile for a movie character. But seriously, there's a definite line you shouldn't cross when pretending to be someone else and it can lead to dire consequences for you. Maybe it's not as extreme as the Moroccan man who was jailed for 43 days after creating a fake Facebook profile of a prince, but you never know. Just steer clear of it.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.

    Suicide
    Social networking sites has been blamed for a lot of things, fairly and unfairly, but in our opinion, the worst offense has been their indirect involvement in suicides. Obviously, there are a lot of factors responsible in each case, but there does seem to be links between social networking and a rash of suicides, and obviously tehre's the case tragic of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a classmate's mom impersonated a teen boy and harassed her over Myspace.

    Murder
    We've reported on numerous incidents of people getting in trouble because of their online behavior. Now, people are becoming victims because of what they're doing on the Web too. In England, a man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after she changed her relationship status to "single." So, be careful of who can see your profile and what you're doing, no matter how harmless it seems.

    Nigerian Scammers
    Oh, you thought this only happened via poorly worded emails, right? WRONG. Once people got wise to their old ways, these con men are turning to social networking sites for new targets. This time, they're hacking into people's accounts and impersonating them to ask for money, usually with some weird sob story. You can check out a transcript of one of these conversations here.

    Cooperation
    Even if the law isn't on a case, a victim, his friends, or empathetic strangers might be. Since it's easy to get word out for anything online, people are using blogs, forums, and social networking sites to help track down criminals. In one such case, a vehicle thief was tracked down by a bunch of anonymous car enthusiasts after the victim posted his story on a forum. In the end, they identified the guy through his Facebook profile.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.

Tags: airlines, autralia, facebook, facebook face loss, FacebookFaceLoss, jetstar, top, work

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