New technology opens doors to new possibilities every day. Many of these have come in the form of communication. With advancements including social media, face to face services such as Zoom, Facetime, Skype and so forth, it’s become increasingly easy to get in contact with loved ones, but also strangers. Although most interactions are harmless, there are occurrences that show the dangers connected to these newfound possibilities. One such involving Matthew Berdyck highlights multiple risks found in the uncensored contact found online.
The first such engagement tells the story of Matthew Berdyck reaching out to a charity under false pretenses. He claimed to have been homeless, stuck by a bus, and in need of medical and temporal support. The owner of the previously mentioned charity offered Berdyck a bus ticket to their homeless shelter and free housing until he fully recovered. Berdyck then began demanding cash. Although it started at $100, the amount and aggressive nature of his demands slowly began to rise. When The owner of the charity refused his claims, Berdyck threatened the man, stating that he would falsely accuse him of refusing to help and hold him accountable for his death due to injury because of his unwillingness to support him financially. Luis Rodriguez (the owner of the charity) was not shaken but retracted his offer to help.
As promised Berdyck wrote an article on the site Daily Independent Journal, a site run solely by him, dragging the name of Mr. Rodriguez’s charity through the mud. It turns out that this was not the first article Berdyck had written on this site. When we look a little closer at the Daily Independent Journal, we find that Berdyck had owned and operated this site solely for a while, spreading any fake news he desired. Later it was exposed that Berdyck was also running a site called, Superfundresearch.org a fake online charity collecting donations for a cause they never saw to fruition. If you desire to learn more about this scandal, check out SuperfundResearch.org.