A few days ago, someone made a thread on lulz.net linking to this:
http://i.imgur.com/aLu2U.gifThe TL:DR is that a furry, popular on FA, called
herro is a compulsive liar who pretended to be a woman online for many years (sending people photographs of women telling people they were him) and fooled various people into relationships, traveling to America &c. Additional lies included working for aerospace and engineering corperations, being a millionaire etc etc. Someone on lulz.net said that herro "Scammed thousands of dollars too in gifts and undelivered commissions":
http://lulz.net/furi/res/2433604.htmlHerro's hand was forced and he posted a journal admitting to some things:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4154843/The most relevant part:
I'm also a liar. I have been lying for a long time. I have been lying to people since I've been on the internet. There is NO ONE on here that knows how I am. I am almost certain that I think think you can talk to any two people who know me and ever get the same story twice.
To the highest possible extent you can imagine someone lying. Imagine something double that. Imagine the most heartbreaking lie someone has ever told to you and I do that all the time. Every day. I lie on a whim about anything. I've lied to people to such an extent that they changed their entire lives around me- and I've never even apologized to them. I've made people fall in love with lives, leave their lovers for lies. I don't know how much worse it can get than that. People go to jail for lesser things. People should go to jail for THESE things.
Rokemi (author of the .gif above) posted a journal urging him to eluicidate further:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4155755/Rokemi was sent a note by someone who'd been strung along by Herro for 4 years and to such an extent that they spent $2500 flying to America in the hope of meeting them:
http://i.imgur.com/Nd3ql.pngHerro posted a second journal admitting to more lies:
I mislead people yes. But I mislead people in love. Not just hey one person, or two people. But several people over the course of many years.
-I told people I was a girl instead of being upfront, and saying "Hey. You know, I feel like a girl. But I'm not."
-I kept misleading people into this lie, even after they gave me chances to come clean. I had all the chances in the world. More than anyone deserves, and instead I lied to them further, convincing them to be comfortable. And 'How dare they question me!?'
-I kept people so in love with me that they fell out of love with the people in their daily lives, the people that actually did love them.
-I made someone break up with their girlfriend for no reason because they thought I was some dreamy person that could be all they ever wanted.
-I made multiple people waste money on me, trying to see me, trying to meet someone who never really existed. Not only their money, but their time, missing work, missing school. Flying to another place, ending up far from home for no reason. For nothing but a lie to try and meet someone they thought they knew. In talking to these people recently, it is not any miniscule amount, it is thousands of dollars in total. All wasted.
-I used my illness with HIV to my advantage to scare people when they got too close, or as an excuse as to why they couldn't ever meet me. I up-played and downplayed how sick I was depending on who was talking to me. Depending on how much sympathy or 'room' I needed.
-For some people I knew, I never TOLD them I had HIV to begin with, which might the most abhorring thing a person can do to anyone who might be close to them at any time.
-I justified having HIV as a reason to myself that "It's okay to do this. I can't ever do anything in real life anyway. I can live all my intimacies online."
-I pretended to have other illnesses just because I knew the symptoms would be similar and people would believe me, and feel sorry.
-I told people I lived in places that I have never, ever been. I told people I was not my age. I told people I as not my race. I told people I worked some dream job, that I was a millionaire, that I was 'famous' for whatever this or that reason.
-I used pictures of people who were not me for my own means, to win affection, to be someone else. Without regard for the personal lives that I was stealing.
-I ruined peoples emotions by using their own friends to get information about them. I used people to build and refine my own lies and life. I used anyone who I knew I could. To betray their own friends.
-I lied about going to get together and meetings, I lied about meeting people there. I made up story after story about where I am, where I was, who I was, just to win sympathy from people, or to escape scrutiny.
-I did anything possible, to keep people from finding out the truth. Without regard to anyone who I might be hurting. I did it so much, and so often, that this has taken SIX years to come to this. And even now people are starting to doubt or question if I am bad as I am. Or If I had been "Hacked" or whatever. No, I am bad. I am a shithead. I did do all these things because in my mind I thought it was right. I did them on purpose.
One thing I have to make clear, again, is that none of the people that I've hurt, or mislead, are dumb, or naive, or gullible, for falling for these things I did. No one would go to the extent that I have gone to make a lie, true. No one is expecting someone to do this to them. No one should ever have someone do this to them. It is not in any way their fault and it makes me feel terrible that people would blame them for being "easily fooled."
There's no way I make it up to any of these people. And that is not the reason I am posting these to begin with. The portions of their lives where I was in it, are gone. They can't get that back, they can't have back wasted time. They can't repair the damage to their trust from me. They're going to always have it in the back of their minds whenever they meet anyone else now. I am lucky to be financially stable, the littlest reparation I can do is at least pay people for their wasted time, wasted effort, wasted money, wasted travel, wasted all things. Therapy? If they elect it, sure. Whatever it may be.
I just want people to understand I'm not trying to "bounce back," I am not looking for forgiveness. I'm not looking to go back to the way things were. In fact there is nothing to go back to. The last decade of my life has been erased. I want to start over in some way. But I don't think it should be here. I'm not going to leave this site until things are right, regardless. I'm not trying to run away.
Though it's a minor thing in light of all this. There are also people voicing concern about commissions; trades. I am not going to just bail on people without working out something they are happy with. If they want the art, they can have it. It they want some sort of compensation. They may also have that.
I know that there are some people who are going to read this, and still feel compassion or sympathy for me, please even if you do, (And I don't think you should. But I'm not here to say how you feel about things, or your capacity for sympathy or empathy.) Please though, keep it quiet. For the people who I've hurt, nothing is going to hurt them more than seeing people "accept" me or say it's alright. If you really do feel for me after all this somehow, make me work for it, and make me earn your trust.
^
www.furaffinity.net/journal/4156899Despite all this, some people thoughtlessly gushed:
I've got respect for him, because the person he portrays online is an extremely likable, friendly, sociable persona, which says to me the person he WANTS to be is awesome. And he can be. He just needs to stop lying and being so ashamed of himself.
^
This person even drew giftart for Herro:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9529784/Edit: Gift art now deletedyou awesome!
You are a fantastic artist and i wish i knew you, but I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I've too made mistakes. you are a wonderful person and you will always have friends who will be there for you.
I don't care what you are..we all adore you for being you!! we are not here to judge
Presumably thinking with their dicks since Herro draws furry porn.
