By Matt Gephardt
Produced by Cindy St. Clair
Edited by Aaron Colborn
Photography by Brian Morris

(KUTV) Jeannine Jones has worked hard in her 25 year career as a neonatal nurse and when she's not working with newborns she's often on the road giving lectures. As such, it's not uncommon for her to hear from doctors and nurses around the country but when she got a call from a South Carolina hospital late last year, it was different. A South Carolina nurse was calling to ask a profile that list Jeannine’s name and much of her professional accomplishments is really tied to her. It is not. Someone has created this bogus Facebook profile.
     
Jeannine says she contacted Facebook and asked them to take the page down but she says they refused.

“Their response was this page does not violate any of our policies, so we've decided not to take any action,” Jeannine said.

Now Jeannine says she is worried for what sinister purpose the information could be used.

“They're going to use my information to look like a credible person to solicit money from people,” she speculated.

And when Facebook refused to budge, Jeannine decided to Get Gephardt.

According to Facebook’s own policies, a fake page is against the rules. Facebook’s Community Standards read, "Claiming to be another person, creating a false presence for an organization, or creating multiple accounts undermines community and violates Facebook’s terms."

Get Gephardt contacted Facebook on behalf of Jeannine through their corporate “Newsroom,” and this time their response to the bogus profile changed. Facebook immediately removed the profile.

Jeannine says she is glad the page is gone but she says she wishes Facebook had been more responsive before Get Gephardt got involved.

“They have a lot of members who provide support to them and I think they owe it to their members to look out for us as well,” Jeannine said.

Facebook did not answer direct questions as to why they refused to remove the bogus profile when Jeannine reported it. Instead, Facebook provided a link describing how a person can report Facebook fraud ... which is of course what Jeannine had already done.

(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcast Group)Fake Facebook Profile Highjacks Utahn's Professional Life