TORONTO – With all of the personal details radio hosts often divulge about their own lives, long-time listeners feel like they know them. Like they’re friends.
That level of intimacy can apparently have a dark side, as CFRB Morning Man Bill Carroll and evening host Jim Richards found out about recently.
The two have fallen prey to a Toronto man who has been impersonating them on Internet chat rooms and other cyber-locations for the past three to four years. The identity theft came to light Tuesday night on the Jim Richards Show when the man confessed on air to communicating with people on internet chat rooms using the names of Bill Carroll and Jim Richards, according to an ‘RB press release.
To convince people of who he was, the man said he sent photos of Bill’s wife and children and those of Jim Richards to the people he was chatting to on line (The photos were posted on the radio station’s web site).
"In some cases the individual had a three year on line relationship as Bill Carroll with people from as far away as Wisconsin and Australia. The man said he had been impersonating Jim Richards for the past six months," says the release.
CFRB has passed on the man’s identity to the police.
Carroll told his listeners this morning that he has never participated in any Internet chat rooms and that he felt violated by the man’s actions and the use of photos of his wife and children on the Internet.
Standard Radio-owned CFRB has now issued a policy about not allowing photos of family members of staff to appear on cfrb.com.
The man told Jim he only used the identity of the hosts to chat with people on the internet. He denied using their identities to secure money, favours or services from anyone or any business. He also denied meeting any of the people he chatted with on line in person.
The scam came to light when the women he communicated with on the Internet started e-mailing Jim Richards and Bill Carroll at the radio station asking why they weren’t returning their e-mails.
