I'm hurt, I'm angry

TRURO - Shock, anguish and anger.
Those were several of the emotions experienced by Dale Ling when she saw a picture of her best friend promoting a colon cleansing product on Facebook.
"It just shocked me," she said, especially considering her friend, Helen Breimer of Hilden, has been deceased since last January and the product is one the woman had never used or endorsed.
"I thought, 'Where in the H is that coming from?' Like, 'What kind of joke is this?'
"I was in awe. I just didn't know what to do."
Ling was not alone in her distress at seeing the promotion that was seemingly being made by her late friend and the company in question, PurgeColon.net, has since removed the posting after receiving irate complaints about it.
The ad, which had used Briemer's Facebook profile picture, showed her on horseback with an accompanying caption that included the following information: "Helen H Breimer I'm 81/2 pounds lighter thanks to the FREE trial pack of this new colon cleanser that I got! Visit PurgeColon.net to get yours! Aro."
Typing in that web address to the Google search engine produces numerous warnings and other stories of others who have also had their Facebook sites interfered with in a similar manner. No one from either that company or Facebook returned calls for comment Friday.
"How did this get on there? That is my big question," Ling said. "I'm hurt, I'm angry... They're using her."
Breimer's 15-year-old daughter Shelby said she too was taken aback and spooked when she became aware of the unapproved endorsement.
"It scared me," she said. "It freaked me out ... knowing they can do that (because it means the company either has obtained her late mother's Facebook password or they have some other means of getting into personal sites).
"It hurts," she added. "I know it angered a lot of people."
Ling has yet to receive a suitable answer from the company in question but said she still plans to contact Facebook seeking answers. And she said the incident should serve as a warning to others that the personal information they have displayed on Facebook is simply not safe from being used or distorted by others.
"Can any company go on Facebook and use your profile picture for advertising?" she asked. "You hear so many parents say to their kids, 'Be careful what you put on there. You don't know what can be used against you.'"