One downside of social media is when your company gets brand-jacked. In other words, if someone “adoring” fan decides to set up a Facebook Page or a Twitter account on behalf of your company and then proceeds to make false announcements, pretending to be an official spokesperson for the company or individual. That’s exactly what happened to Royston Drenthe, a Real Madrid soccer player, when his unofficial Facebook page announced he was going to Liverpool Fc.
The fake Royston Drenthe Facebook page (found here) posted the following update: “I will soon be joining Liverpool Fc. Hope I will have a good season there 
” It attracted a ton of comments from the fans of the page, many of which recognized that the page was fake. However that didn’t prevent a number of sports sites from picking up the news, prior to the sport star’s agent confirming that it was indeed a hoax.
Perhaps this new type of brand-jacking, is exactly why Twitter launched their “Verified Account” service. It prevents companies from becoming the unwilling victim of an ugly brand-jacking attack. Fortunately the rumors were debunked quickly, however the fake Facebook Page still remains. I’m assuming it won’t be around for too much longer.
Update
The fake Royston Drenthe Facebook Page was instantly shut down following the publishing of this article.
It appears that the fake page has been disabled.
Comment by Edward Martin Curtis — July 27, 2010 @ 11:24 am
What FB is all about now. FAKE. I don't even bother reading wall posts anymore. All spambots. Which is why I've found other restricted to college student only sites, which is what FB should have stayed.
Comment by guest — July 27, 2010 @ 3:06 pm
It was shut down due to you and not others because they're all brain dead and lazy bums. They knew it was a fake page and yet people fail to report the damn things. There's this little fing link to the bottom left of pages called REPORT. Use it you retards! Especially on all those idiot spambot profiles that post ADD ME PLSSSS on walls.
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FB could easily implement protocols to block fakers from making fan pages. But what would be the fun in having order and professional, responsible, respectable representation? Let FB go down the toilet with all the spam and fraud that's taken over since Sept. 2006
Comment by guest — July 27, 2010 @ 9:24 pm
It doesn't work to other people… fb doesn't pay attention to those reports
is there any way to delete my fake profile?
Comment by real me — January 9, 2011 @ 4:11 pm