Mark & John | Internet Mysteries

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[@TheInternetInvestigator]

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[@s_sunshower]

the difference in tech literacy and online skepticism from now and over 20 years ago is astounding; almost anyone 16 or older today would automatically write this stuff off as a scam or a worrisome online stalker

[@tobey7246]

I could totally believe this could still happen now. People now are so, so much more gullible. Take it with a grain of salt, but I've seen people claim they have either been in 'friend groups' orchestrated by a single person with a handful of alternate accounts, or people claim they ran these sorts of groups. Maybe not to the level of what happened to poor Mark here, but the base concept is still something people fall for.

[@xduwu4257]

​@SneebbummSnabberrs I've yet to hear the phrase tech literacy, but got 'media literacy' drives me insane. I'd rarely heard anyone say that until recently.

[@mortal-enemy]

@SneebbummSnabberrs Uh, I think you're thinking of the term media literacy, brother. The term is usually digital literacy, not tech literacy, but it very much is a real thing.

[@Lilnaomi3]

It isn't a matter of now versus then. This stuff still happens today. It is a matter of awareness and vulnerability. Kendra Licari went after her own daughter in this way and it was very recent. That is one example of many that come to mind. There were classes and videos back in the early 90's instructing people against sharing ASL, be aware of stranger danger online don't divulge financial or employment information. Online dating and shopping were seen as risky. It wasn't ubiquitous like it is today and people were very wary. I believe people still share these ideas; the trouble is predators develop their skills for finding people (of all ages) to take advantage of. People that know better can fall vulnerable for various reasons. This is why romance scamming is so prevalent right now. It is unfortunate but people often times feel shame or fear as a result of falling victim to something online. Things gets compounded by societal expectations and as a result victims often keep things to themselves. People need to feel safe and supported so they can reach out and tell someone something may be wrong. It is easy to say people should know better or compare generations, but things like the room N and people like Abdul Elahi still happen regardless of knowledge and use of technology.

[@s_sunshower]

@mortal-enemy tech literacy and digital literacy have two separate meanings, but they're both pretty similar to an extent. idk why that dude got so triggered but whatever edit: probably should have used digital literacy since this whole fiasco was caused by not knowing how to sniff out a manipulative user/potential scammer online, not a lack of understanding technology as a whole lol

[@A-1-Sawce]

Dude. This is the absolute most batshit insane story I've heard in a good while lmao. Holy crap. People dying, virtual impregnation, secret service agents, forced homoerotic situations, attempted murder, this shit sounds like a long-winded poorly done skit.

[@eliotbarnhart2810]

Being gay in the early 2000s was easier than all the convoluted nonsense John did

[@missdrool]

"Impregnated via the MSN Messenger" made me almost choke on my food 😂 Certainly a brand new sentence!

[@753studios6]

Word salad😂😂

[@goodbher9244]

This comment got me pregnant, send me child support. You're the father. 🤣

[@gbresaleking]

I'm pretty sure I'd be a dad by now if it worked like that lol

[@z.s.7992]

My wife got the clap from a toilet seat on one of her many out of town trips she says😅

[@diegoscoffeemug]

​@@goodbher9244 LMFAOO

[@quincey5917]

“a self-proclaimed ‘homosexual stalker’” 😭 I’m only a few minutes in and I’m getting ms scribe flashbacks

[@EmployeeKB]

why did john get a lighter sentence than mark? i think john is way more dangerous than the kid that was manipulated. im honestly surprised the sexual stuff wasn't mentioned at all. under the kevin identity alone, john should have been convicted for some sort of sex crime imo. it doesnt matter if it was actually real or not. edit: tbh i could even see a case for self defense in this scenario, or something like that. regardless if the people were spies or not, they knew his every move. if these people were not john in disguise, mark would possibly be in trouble for not doing the crime. there were real possible threats on his life at that point, because he didnt know they were all john.

[@cecilross2848]

fr, the ending statement that "neither of them would've been dangerous if they hadn't crossed paths" just isn't true of John. He MADE the forum. He ALREADY HAD the accounts. He must have been stalking Mark in person to know what he was doing constantly. Mark was the object of his obsession, but he would've found someone else eventually if Mark hadn't turned up.

[@NeemoVideos]

It goes to show that the justice system isn't prepared to handle acts of emotional abuse and manipulation in general. Just looking at the physical act of stabbing and saying that it's a greater crime especially in such an insane case where every minute detail of obsession is actually recorded via chat logs is f*cked up. As a male survivor of narcissistic reactive abuse such cases make me sick. And as a fan of true crime I can tell you this isn't a singular procedure. Cases where men get manipulated into breaking the law whilst the often female puppeteer get a much lighter sentence if being convicted at all are a dime a dozen. Or cases where women actually commit the same crime as their male counterparts and still getting lighter sentences are also the status quo internationally. If this doesn't stem from institutionalized sexism towards both genders I'd be surprised. Seems like in the eyes of the law, men must be the dominant and brutal ones and therefore get harsher punishment and women as well as other genders are weak and/or objects and couldn't possibly have as much power to act as unlawfully as men, therefore getting less punishment.

[@Cliff_Jumped_0ff83]

@EmployeeKB exactly! I agree with all of your points. I know it was only 8 months but it's still a much longer sentencing. It's all so unreal to begin with!

[@EmployeeKB]

@@cecilross2848 yeah!! and lowkey the news sites romanticizes john and its. you know, disgustang!

[@bigasspockets]

It seems like marks representation was awful, or that maybe he didn’t want to discuss the sexual stuff in court

[@unlimitedbug]

I like how you accidentally implied that more than three months of talking could pose the potential of MSN pregnancy.

[@chelseahindle3645]

That gave me such a giggle 🤣

[@laios7462]

no judgement to Mark but i facepalmed with how fake this was like 10 times. It’s such an insane story and wonder how Mark is…

[@takemybloon1210]

It’s obvious to us now but back then people didn’t have the same sense of internet safety

[@phatghettorat]

@@takemybloon1210but being told you’re going to meet the queen lmfaoooo

[@xduwu4257]

​@@phatghettorathe was a dumb kid, I'm not gonna say it's not ridiculous but teens are gullible and this was a time when the concept of a catfish wasn't a thing most people were aware of. It's funny to laugh at people who fall for stupid shit online but this went wayyy beyond an average catfish. He didn't deserve what happened just for being a dumb teen this situation is so messed up.

[@moonmoon4537]

I was 6 years old in 2003 and I had more sense on the internet than this lmao

[@nicholasgeere5125]

​@xduwu4257 how many spies have you met in your life irl, that have admitted they were spies and was horny for you

[@WobblesandBean]

I could see the twist coming a mile away. I don't understand how a person can be this sick. I encountered a catfish like this in the MSN/AIM days, she had a whole cast of fake personas she'd talk to people with. Like the MsScribe debacle, but on live chat instead of a fanfiction forum.

[@zacharyantle7940]

Ohhhhh that sounds interesting, what happened there?

[@trevorhaddox6884]

Most catfishers don't convince you to kill them through catfishing though, that's the super weird part.

[@plaguedoctorapothecary]

​@@zacharyantle7940 oh man I think there's a drama breakdown vid on KZbin about it - it was MsScribe in Harry Potter fandom. It is a rabbithole and a half - it was a fanfic author who came in as a nobody and quickly became a Big Name Fan through a lot of LiveJournal drama, and it turned out she was basically running a long con with an army of sock puppets from the beginning of her time in fandom and she'd orchestrated herself up in to the 1% of the big fandom figures. I remember watching the exposé posts go up on journalfen live (in chapter format, like a novel) - it took over a week, and it was RIVETING.

[@dalpaengi]

On live chat? Was it Jessica Mae Polly?

[@sherlyncarpinteyro8841]

I figured it was John the whole time but I did not expect any of that. I thought it was one pervert but it was more depressing than disgusting. Hope John and mark are doing well

[@LucasSchimmel]

Also, you'd usually expect this kind of thing from an adult towards a child, but the fact John is the younger one grooming the older boy for sexual gratification and then his own suicide attempt. It's such a bizarre thing for a young boy to think "I'll trick this older boy into sex, then I'll have him kill me". Worst part... he could just have gotten a boyfriend. One who would actually be of his sexuality, and you know, would refuse to stab him.

[@sherlyncarpinteyro8841]

When the brother was introduced I was like hmm this is suspicious

[@emo_penguin420]

Same! My antennas perked up when that part came up!

[@pirate_duck4985]

100% the AOL & MSN Chatrooms were absolutely Wild Wild West bitd!! The amount of people in those chat rooms that were millionaires, spy's, police, Hells Angels, knew or were celebrities etc. Most of which was legit just out for nudes or any kinda skin they could get a look at! Yes, Leonardo Dicaprio is in an MSN Chatroom trying to hook up with children & will send pics/money when you have or they're assistant will *DING* oh look its his assistant now! Great timing!

[@emmadamico3753]

john masterminded all of this and yet misspelled maybe in every persona and had characters with the last names “east” and west” and nobody suspected a thing (as if the whole storyline shouldn’t have raised red flags)

[@adeer87]

I feel so deeply sad for both boys, especially Mark. I’m glad both sentences were light, tho I still think Mark’s should have been lighter. I’m glad they both seem to be doing ok. It might be easy to judge people for falling for stuff like this, but it’s better to understand that anyone can fall for scams and catfishes when we’re vulnerable. Yes, even you.

[@raeraebadfingers]

Where you at, fam? It's time.. let's investigeht.

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

🤣🖤

[@emilydavis162]

I’m truly shocked that Mark was sentenced when he was obviously coerced to kill, or nearly kill, John. Given that John had CSEM of Mark, it could be theorized that John would blackmail him with the materials had he not agreed to kill him.

[@TwistWarp]

It's such a shame that so many of us had parents who said, "Don't believe everything you see on the internet." And are now the same ones who fall for love scams.

[@chestnut4860]

Are they though? so many people getting fleeced by alex jones style "alpha male" diet supplements and shit and "red pilled" is mostly our generation.

[@sexygirlmax2019]

what does this mean. im autistic im not trying to be mean. this happened in 2003 and he was a kid

[@80AM.]

Oh they still have this mindset. Anytime I use the internet to learn the best approach to doing something at work (construction) supervisors don't listen to any of the suggestions that I make because I read it on the internet. When 9/10 times it's correct

[@preciouspear7619]

I always love the way you say baby. “Bay-bay.”

[@sk8razer]

When I was up in the MSN chatrooms in 1999 (at the appalling age of 11 years), there was this fun lil trend where someone would ask "What's the name of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album?" And then when you answered "Californication", you would get booted for profanity lmfaoooo Again, I was 11, so I just thought that it was a portmanteau of "California" and "Vacation" (bc California is obviously an extremely popular vacation spot in the US lol). It was at least a few years before I learned about the word "fornication". It's still funny as hell to me that that word would get flagged for profanity. I also once accidentally typed "shit" instead of "shirt", and all my usual homies in my usual room thought it was funny as hell when I logged back in. We all claimed to be like 19 or 20 years old, but I'm pretty sure we were all like 10. I hope all my MSN buddies have been living well over the past decades 🤗

[@aliceangel262]

THE RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS ALBUM LMAO THATS DIABOLICAL 😭😭

[@zackfarmer9106]

"When John was a babeh"

[@restingsadface]

stahp 😭

[@TheDivaShiba]

Love these old Internet mystery videos!! I'm feeling a bit unwell today but this perked me up.

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Hope you get well soon! I love covering old internet mysteries too, but I don't often come across them 😭🖤

[@z.s.7992]

Its like going back in time down a creepy tunnel

[@thesquadofficial2516]

this was an absolute nightmare from beginning to end lmao. while i wasn’t really around during this time of the internet and thus don’t know what the atmosphere was like when this happened, as someone who was a kid with unrestricted internet access, it’s incredibly easy to get wrapped up in things you don’t entirely understand because you’re naive or trust the person you’re talking to. I see a lot of people call mark stupid for believing in this story and, while it is definitely far fetched and people who fall for these sorts of things are usually younger or significantly older than he was at the time, I don’t think it’s entirely fair - especially since this was a time before online safety was such a widely taught and emphasized thing. just throwing in my two cents. awesome video as always!

[@sweetyft]

I agree that calling Mark stupid for being naive is totally uncalled for. Now as someone who had been on online forums since the late 90s, I (and most people I interacted with at the time) understood the concept of catfish and fake accounts pretty well. It was an age of Internet anonymity. Before Facebook it would have been unthinkable to put your real name to sign up on a discussion website.

[@cliodnaconnoree2635]

Absolutely. I think the key word here is trust. It's scary the kind of things that you can convince people of if you can get them to trust you, especially if they are still at an age when they don't have a solid understanding of how the adult world works yet. I've never been catfished to my knowledge but I did have a best friend on MSN in my tween and teen years who would just... make up increasingly elaborate stories either for attention or to see how far she could push me before I called her out. It took me a few years to look back on our conversations and realise what was going on and I never confronted her about that stuff because a part of me worried that she'd start making fun of me for believing her. But I did believe her for a few years. Because we'd met in real life, and spoke about our lives every day and I trusted her to be honest with me. And she had a way of slowly building up her stories over a manner of months so the escalation felt natural, like that urban legend about how frogs won't hop out of the water if it's heated gradually enough. At the end of the day we were just two troubled youths and no harm was done but I still find myself with a lot of compassion for these kinds of stories of internet catfishing because I feel I've experienced how easy it is to get swept up in such stories.

[@PROWL.Q]

Thinking that this mark fella aint the sharpest tool in the shed

[@scillavanilla5356]

He was looking kind of dumb with his finger and his thumb in the shape, of an L, on his forehead

[@Judgeangels]

​@@scillavanilla5356 Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming

[@AnUndeadMonkey]

who knew that MI6 recruited via MSN camshows

[@gooeater1544]

this is one of the most mind boggling stories ive heard. this is just... literally insane??? honestly, poor Mark. i feel bad for John and his mental struggles too but what he did is unforgiveable. he ruined both his life and someone elses, im like literally speechless!

[@TheChuddiestLittleChud]

mutually assured destruction, pretty sad tbh

[@Amruiz716]

You and Disturban have the best catchphrases in the beginning of your videos. Huge fan of your work and the KZbin horror scene in general so thanks for all your hard work

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Thank you! 🥰🖤

[@deathheated]

this caes taeks plaece

[@ramonagreen7197]

​@@deathheated don't you mean "this place takes case" 😂😂

[@deathheated]

@@ramonagreen7197 LMAOOOO RIGHT

[@Danihack]

The whole thing sounds like a Chris-chan saga lol

[@nukathecat4319]

😂

[@Judgeangels]

as gullible as chris is I dont think even he would fall for it idk what says about mark but it says something

[@ethribin4188]

Even in 2003, someone telling you they are a secret agent, is an obvious lie. I mean,we were always told to not trust strangers, even if they say they are government people.

[@bapplejacks]

This is one of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard. The plot twist truly shocked me. The whole time I was thinking it had to be a ring of pedos playing both mark AND John. But wow I did not expect it all to be John. He sounds like an incredibly intelligent young man to have thought so deeply about life and death and love, but definitely needed some mental help. Hope they’re both doing well.

[@have_at_it_hoss]

My face this entire video 🤨

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

Maybe it was my predisposition to paranoia, but I think Mark was notably gullible for someone of his age, and I wouldn't have believed that back when I was young.

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

I agree, he probably was particularly gullible. I don't think I'd have believed it either, but it's surprising what people can be groomed into believing 🥲🖤

[@WobblesandBean]

Nah. It's really not that far fetched. Just look at all the 16 year olds who believe in witchcraft, werewolves, etc. There's an interesting study that shows kids raised in a religious household are more likely to believe ridiculous things like this, because they've already been groomed to unquestioningly accept some pretty outlandish stuff.

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

@@TheInternetInvestigator unfortunately. Manipulative people in particular know who to target.

[@AccidentallyOnPurpose]

I used the internet from even younger than him (like ~9 years old in the early 2000s), and anything like that I would have shut down immediately. Some of my oldest internet friends I still talk to today (almost 30 years old now) didn't even know my real name or age until I was almost 18.

[@preciouspear7619]

Based on all the typos & other things I don’t think he’s very intelligent.

[@KerReeeee]

The way you said "meowing" was both hilarious and adorable. 😆

[@austinl5158]

These are my favorite old internet stories. It makes me wonder how many insane stories there are like this that will never get told. I was on a small but tight-knit forum in 2004-2008. There was a man on there, who catfished a 15 year old boy, the 15 year old shot himself in the head in his school bathroom. The article spread around the forum. Later, his sister posted on there with a pic of his headstone that had engraved the name of the forum and thanking the users for being his friends. The man who catfished him was communicating to his sister while she was thanking him for being so nice and a good friend. Anyways, it all came out years later when the forum had practically died. Last I know the man who catfished him got married about 8 years ago. It’s wild to me how insane that story is, but only like… 9 people know about it. And it this point, the forum has been down for a decade now and all of the evidence is lost to time.

[@benroyle4431]

Knew this sounded familiar, if you didn’t know they actually made a film telling this story that’s actually pretty good from what I remember it’s called “ u want me 2 kill him?” Came out in 2013

[@amp4105]

Yeah, watched that in school lol.

[@Calypso.24]

I’m so excited you posted, thanks for being here for my commute

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Enjoy! 🖤

[@3LaxWithDax]

As this story went on, I thought I was learning about a British adaption of Chris Chan. Complete with a cross country trip to meet royalty. Minus the medallions and pickles, of course.

[@the_incoherent]

I have tried to watch this like five times and every six seconds feels like a fever dream.

[@Ashagagal]

Yeah it literally felt like a (more graphic) made up story some older teacher would tell to an assembly hall of children to warn them about internet safety. I finished the video and still feel like it was all made up.

[@TDK_wav]

I kinda called it from the beginning of the video that it was John all along. But damn, he even let him stab him.

[@wanderingwisp4542]

“John had created a total of 193 separate online identities.” Is this “John” Roger from American Dad with all these personas? 🤨

[@kreb_]

I’m always so impressed with your videos and how I’ve almost never heard of the topics you cover. Super rare on KZbin nowadays

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Glad you enjoy! 🥰🖤

[@gabriel-gk5eh]

Dude, this story gave me insane flashbacks. I know 2 people who were "in love" with fake profiles on Twitter who were criminals and or secret agents back in the beginning of the platform LOL younger folks have no ideia how common this was and how people actually believed this shit!!

[@SlenderWolf109]

John could have done rounds on r/BestOfRedditorUpdates. Or written the world's most successful soap opera. Good lord

[@holnrew]

I dunno, even in 2003 he should have known better when they said about meeting the queen and shit

[@sabrinatscha2554]

Exactly. It’s just common sense. We weren’t cavemen, in 2002 😄

[@coxxycabee]

Amazing video @TheInternetInvestigator This story is insane. I half expected you to go on and reveal Mark's name to be Christian Western Chandler.

[@db1019]

This was so obviously John right from early in the story. He was the only person Mark met in person. When he spoke to John, other characters would be introduced knowing their conversations. Also Rachel was the initial hook, bait and switch, John was the brother who Mark met and then hung around with.

[@arcadecomplex]

the way you had to introduce msn made me feel so old 😭 i miss it everyday and all of its custom features

[@kierstenburtz8442]

Spoilers Ok but like did anyone else guess from right off the bat that literally all of these people were John? Like I felt like that was obvious to the point where the reveal was more annoying than satisfying. Like "Yes! That's what I've been saying!"

[@LuizaHS1988]

Yeah but at the same time when it got to the stabbing I was really confused.. why'd you want someone to stab you? But you know, mental issues don't walk hand on hand with logic 😮

[@lestupidunicorn]

I've heard this story a couple times but its so absurd and fascinating in a twisted way i cannot resist listening to it again every time someone new covers it

[@bunnyzen666]

even though I generally skip sponsorships, I listened to your whole adread because i love your narration so much. The mundanity of the ad (in comparison to the rest of the video) made it particularly fun. Insane story btw, makes me wonder why I haven't seen this covered by anyone else before! But I'm really glad you did, because i love your videos

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Thank you so much 🥰🖤

[@ramonagreen7197]

Mr Ballen does a great episode on this case. Mr Ballen is great, full stop! Certainly on a par with The Internet Investigator.

[@AdamsWorlds]

A fine example of the crazy stuff that used to happen on the internet before it died. I used to think "dead internet" was a meme and just me aging out of naivety, but nope it really has died, and it's not just me growing up. Less happens now than it used to. It's just bots talking to bots now. I think people are just so connected now and friend circles are so big due to social media that you don't get these crazy people talking anymore and meeting in random chat rooms. Mad stuff like this and random 10000 people parties were so common.

[@HK_808]

Sucks I missed a lot of the fun times on the internet due to being too young

[@jackiearnolds]

I'm glad my parents didn't leave me and my siblings roam freely on the internet as kids. One of us could have easily been preyed upon, but they had that shit locked down, and we didn't even notice until years later. We just wanted to fight each other to play games, so I'm still finding out some crazy stuff that happened in online communities, forums, and chat rooms.

[@georgettethorsnes9626]

I would have been skeptical from the beginning. It’s way too convenient that John was the only one he met, and too many other little red flags would keep popping up that alluded to John being the only person Mark was ever talking to. And it’s just too convenient that John becomes the center of attention after he writes out his sister, so that Mark, the person he’s obviously obsessed with, would be tricked into becoming his personal guardian. But I’ve known people who are like this, to a varying degree, in persona and it’s all about control, but in a more subtle way. He’s a malignant, covert narcissist. He set up an elaborate story that’s only goal was to have the object of his affection unwittingly tricked into becoming his personal attendant. He just made it interesting enough that a 16 year old guy got hooked on the plot. 😅

[@someescapedalien5699]

you have been on a roll with these uploads lately!!

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

🖤🖤🖤

[@azure-mist]

This is a terribly sad story from all angles, but an intensely fascinating one. Thank you for your coverage!!

[@aliceangel262]

I love how you pronounce things, thank you also for bringing us interesting cases that deserve more attention.

[@CryBlueofZ]

That porn bot comments on my local news station youtube channel. I thought I reported them enough, guess not.

[@tidecaller584]

i love watching these when im all snuggled up in bed and am about to go to sleep

[@TheLivingDeadGirl89]

More twist and turns than a Netflix documentary 😂

[@20peas]

I really thought he was going to whisper “6969” as he was dying 😂

[@Slavdrac]

😭

[@leviathan_is_me]

12 minutes in, and when she said "3 or 4 months" I just lost it. All this in 12 to 16 weeks. Homeboy is dumb, like "stop it, get some help" dumb. I love the 90s

[@endtimesninja1235]

Girl was digitally inseminated.

[@carliecole2563]

I like how Janet "Dobbinson" was the 1st person who apparently has a last name in this whole kid's bizarre "Fever-Dream-Come-True end of high school senior project"...

[@Punk_goblin]

You deserve like 1 million subs, I always look forward to your videos

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Thank you! 🥰🖤

[@fx7105]

i don't think this one was folie a deux, this type of behavior used to be all over the place back in these days, and kids were extremely gullible. i had friends convinced they were talking to celebrities all the time lmao. it's just that it usually wouldn't escalate into a murder, usually it was more about dramatic romance, pretending someone is dying on a car crash while on a phone etc lol. soap opera type stuff but often with a supernatural twist.

[@dangerousandy]

A very similar thing to this happened to a group of friends of mine on Facebook (without the murder plot 🤣). It was a 16 year old boy from Northern Ireland behind it. He had created numerous Facebook accounts and had been ‘catfishing’ one of my mates, who sent him money and nude photos (believing that he was communicating with a woman called Alison). None of the things were out-of-the-ordinary, and all the photos and check-ins all seemed realistic and plausible. There were even characters that never communicated with the friendship circle I was in, and were there (it seems) to just make the ‘Alison’ account seem genuine. It was only when Alison failed to join in with something that required a photo that wouldn’t be able to found online, that the doubts set in, and one of my friends is a computer/internet expert and found that all the accounts were linked to the one IP address that matched the boy from NI. The whole thing was completely ridiculous, yet so believable. As soon as you started the story, I knew that it would be John behind the whole thing 😂

[@itsbroiled]

"The internet investigator" notification: is that the girl with the cool accent? ... yes !

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

🥰🖤

[@Cliff_Jumped_0ff83]

They said not to shoot the messenger.. but didn't say anything about stabbing!

[@Jack-qd3xo]

This is so uncanny to listen to. I had an acquaintence in secondary school very similar to John. She very clearly had a crush on me, and would make up all these (clearly) fake MSN accounts to introduce me to. One of the funniest ones was "Dwayne" who's profile pic was the 3rd google images result for "sexy chav" of all things. I still have a letter she wrote to me 'from Dwayne' lol

[@LithiumSax]

That twist genuinely made my jaw drop.

[@gagbag2232]

dang it used to be so easy to lie on the internet

[@MartinTempleton-nw4zi]

Love your channel remember seeing a documentary on this years ago strange story for sure

[@alistertowelie]

I first heard of this case when I saw the movie. It’s one of the wildest true crime cases and no one ever talks about it.

[@lizardjr.7826]

whats the name of the movie?

[@alistertowelie]

@@lizardjr.7826 u want me 2 kill him? Its on tubi

[@buglover88]

@@lizardjr.7826u want me 2 kill him

[@morigahn]

Perfect timing for a bedtime story

[@WhoamI-yz9nx]

We recently had a story in my country where a woman pulled a similar thing with equally wild stories, but IRL. It's absolutely insane and even scarier because she lived with the people she was fooling. The victim recently released a book about the whole experience.

[@ShotgunsAndSalt]

I knew it was John from the beginning but holy shit

[@BillyMontgomery-z9q]

It's terrible any of this happened, but I'm sorry, this Kid must be the most Naive person on the entire Planet!!! Nobody would believe any of this!

[@clairehann2681]

Absolutely ludicrous that a CHILD can be convicted of attempted murder after being another person's VICTIM, helpless against a calculating and psychotic mind. It's really unfair

[@smedleyx]

... had forgotten about this, but now know the details, thanks & cheers

[@greenfaerietarot7465]

Wow, that story was wild. Even I didn't see that plot twist coming. The Internet Investigator, you never disappoint.

[@himbaek8533]

It wasn't this elaborate or dramatic, but I was catfished in 2007 or 2008 while in high school. Now that I'm older looking back, i can realize what that was and all the lies, but for years, I never put it together. The thing I'm most hurt by is an online friend I'd had for years started "dating" my catfish, and that was why he broke up with me. This video now has me wondering if that friend was the actual catfish

[@mmocha7824]

I love this channel ❤ had a hard time lately and I can’t explain how many hours of this have helped me get through it. Thank you!

[@TheInternetInvestigator]

Thank you! I hope things start getting better for you soon 🥲🖤

[@0therun1t21]

I hate it when people get messes with like this, especially kids and vulnerable people.

[@CallMeFreakFujiko]

It's strange, but this is honestly kind of believable. I used MSN all the time in middle school to talk to strangers. I knew about "internet stranger danger" from a story I read in a magazine geared towards teenagers and ever since I've been extremely careful. I won't even sell something on Craigslist without the meeting place being in a public area and without my husband around. Some of the shit strangers would tell me was kind of wild. Not "I'm a secret agent and I'm pregnant via MSN messenger with your baby" wild, but shit like "I own a baby tiger" and "I'm actually super mega rich." I myself claimed something like "I have a copy of the new Zelda game for Gamecube." (Twilight Princess. It didn't even have a title at the time, let alone being close to being finished.) And I did believe them. I mean, owning a tiger and being rich isn't a huge stretch, I guess. (What I claimed was, but nobody questioned me at the time for some reason.) And yeah, some people would try to get me to get a webcam. (I had a camera that could be used for such things but I never actually used it for that, because paranoia.) What's actually weird is that I would read these stories in the same magazines about people getting a friend request from "Matt" on MySpace, and they'd get into some sort of romantic relationship with them. One of them had like, three girls who are friends being in a relationship with "Matt." They all met up with "Matt" at some point and it turned out to be a cop catfishing minors to warn them about catfishing. There were more than one story on this. And then some guy who called himself "Matt" tried talking to me and asked if I wanted to "go out" with him. I was weirded out so I declined. I didn't even use MySpace. (Too many people in school asked if I used it and wanted to friend me on there. I didn't even like some of those people. So I just never had one.) Those magazines might have saved my ass. I talked to a lot of strangers online and had contact with zero of them. (Until I was an adult selling old video games.)

[@p4ngolin]

right? like we kinda all talked shit online, it was the expectation that the other person was gonna talk shit too, it was like a massive roleplay lmao I remember i was so paranoid I didnt even plug my webcam unless i was actively using it, for fear of hackers spying on me

[@DissonantSynth]

John did not deserve his happy ending. He ruined Mark's life.

[@wisterias]

i know this is weird to say but i really appreciate you adding TWs at the beginning of your videos. a lot of mystery channels don't. i love mystery and true crime but i have ptsd and can't handle certain topics. thank you!

[@greenfeatherss]

as soon as John had Mark take him out of school, i was 100% sure it was all John's doing. absolutely deranged child

[@NemFX]

People always forget, first we had mIRC, then AOL messenger, then yahoo messenger, then ICQ, then MSN. Facebook is basically the new MSN. But we had video chatting since AOL. It kinda sucked, but it was there. Yahoo had a great one, with built in wide-screen. ICQ was.. okay. Honestly, it kinda felt like a step backwards. Maybe that's just me, but I have fond memories of all the other messengers, and ICQ was just.. there. MSN messenger was the best one, cause it kept track of your email too, in realtime. Tldr, messengers got me laid, except ICQ.

[@frootgummies]

the Raycon ad made me miss when you would feature your face in your videos

[@PotoPls]

Just took my motrbike for a little ride to the shops and put this video on my headset. Ended up riding around for ages listening to the whole thing 🤣

[@StawberryStranger]

Oh my GOD this story is sooo insanely "good" terrible but so crazy and good.

[@Tophandour]

In most catfish cases that I've seen where there's someone the victim knows irl who confirms details the catfish is giving, that person is the catfish. Knew as soon as John confirmed the death of his sister

[@LongDongJohnson0705]

Fantastic segway into raycon ad read...loved it

[@ThugShakers4Christ]

Raycon: the official earbud of giving Kim K a back shot

[@Edgeworthscravat]

Ther is a reasonably good film about this called 'u wnt me 2 kill him?'. it's not exact to the facts, but it follows the rough line of the story. Pretty well acted too by two incredibly talented young actors.

[@chestnut4860]

This went from wondering how he didn't see this coming, to believable when he met up in person in john and that added so much believability (I mean imagine being the weirdo who thinks your friend doesn't exist after meeting their sibling irl...) then it went back to being insane.

[@IdahoRanchGirl]

Ah MSN worked sooooo slow! Remember, we had dialup modems, so yeah. To send a picture took hours sometimes. I used AOL messaging, and ICQ. Thing is, back then, we got charged by groups of minutes, then by the hour. It was nothing to run up a $300 bill. Then I discovered mIRC, used that via just the internet, no huge bills. I met my husband on there, knew him in person for 3 days and married him in Reno, on a Sunday. October 13. We were married for 26 years until he recently died suddenly in September. I was one of the lucky ones and didn't meet some weirdo. I suppose I might have been the weird one! Lol! The internet was really awesome back then when it was new. Even before Microsoft Windows came out. It's come a long way since then. And has ruined a whole generation of our youth. I definitely blame social media for most of the effec up bs going on today. Because I know how it used to be. I watched the downfall. I'm old. Don't feel old. But apparently am. 61. Time flies you guys. Don't waste it.

[@roguedalek900]

When UPOC shut down a bunch of us went to ICQ but that lasted about 3 days. We migrated to FB . I still have a bunch of old UPOC friends on FB . Some I even met up with over the years. Had lots of fun on UPOC 06-13ish I think they shut down. Old flip phone days 😅

[@cceru708]

Reminds me of middle school, when one of my friends made a fake account on her old phone and pretended to be a friend of hers. I knew it was her though, I just let her do it because it felt nice to pretend I had a new friend. Obviously it didn't get this bad, but damn I was lonely to just let that happen lmao

[@NutyRiver]

I knew someone in early high school who went through something similar a few years before I met her. She was in an online fan group with other kids her age, and for some reason the other kids all decided to play a horrible elaborate joke on her where one by one they pretended to die. She really believed it and had to grapple with this alone as a middle schooler, and only found out it was faked after a few months of torment. She could’ve been lying to me, but considering other factors I believe this really happened to her. I never got specific details from her (like whether it was one kid pretending to be multiple that did this to her, or even if they were really kids her age at all) but I tried to encourage her to tell her parents since she was clearly still traumatized. I lost contact with her after a while. I hope she’s okay.

[@tikimillie]

Anyone else giggling over the way she pronounced “meowing” during the ad read?