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Asker

To Sam

What if he's fake?

I have know this boy online for three years to this day and starting to wonder who he really is, We first met on this game called Minecraft and played hunger games all the time

He then went and asked me if I had Google hangouts and I said yes, a couple of minutes later I got a message from him saying if he had the right person so I replyed. Then we started asking what we like and disliked ect. The next day he asked me for my. PHOTO. I paused and though about it and only gave it to him the following year, and he gave me is, he said he was 14 and I went along with it and I said my age, also I didn't wan t to give him my address, which was the right thing to do. the next year I messaged him saying "join the server, were ru :-\" and I got no reply, this  carried on for a week, it turned into a month and by now I have sent him 6 messages and 5 e-mails, but still. Nothing.

I thought he was lying to me, about everything and I would like your advise please Sam

Ask Sam

Sam

Hi there,

It can be really difficult to know whether someone is telling the truth when you meet them online. Even if you spend a long time getting to know them and they share personal details with you, it’s impossible to be certain about what they are telling you. You did the right thing in not sharing anything personal about you.

Lots of young people enjoy online gaming, often with people they don’t actually know in person. While it’s fine to play games against people, it’s really important to think about keeping yourself safe online.

If an online friend stops contacting you, it could be confusing and painful not to know what’s happened. It might also make you start to ask yourself questions about whether what they have told you is real.

It seems like there will be no way to answer those questions, but it can really help to think about finding ways to cope with the way you're left feeling if you're feeling sad.  You can think about asking an adult for help, getting support from other people on our message boards or talk to a ChildLine counsellor, any time.

Take care,
Sam

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