For as long as I can remember, I have always had comments made about my last name. You wouldn’t know it from my blog name but my last name is Slutsky and for obvious reasons, you can probably understand why these comments have been instilled throughout my life. It never caused any serious issues for me or my family, if anything it allows me to close a bar tab as fast as possible and I seem to get a large number of friend requests followed by marriage proposals on Facebook from people I do not know. Until yesterday…. when my sister received this e-mail from Facebook Headquarters.
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From: The Facebook Team <info+mpzoup2.aeazonthda@support.facebook.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 9:30 AM
Subject: Re: Disabled – Fake Name
To: *******.*******@gmail.com
Hi,
Facebook is a community where people use their real identities. We require everyone to provide their real first and last names and real birthday so you always know who you’re connecting with.
Your account is temporarily suspended because your profile doesn’t list your real name. Before we can reopen this account, we need to verify your identity.
Please reply to this email and attach a digital image of one of the acceptable documents outlined below so we can verify your account information. We will permanently delete our record of this digital image from our servers after we use it to confirm your identity.
If you have a government-issued ID (ex: passport or driver’s license) please attach that.
If you do not have a government-issued ID, please attach copies of at least TWO documents that:
– Are from a respected institution (ex: business, school, university)
– Combined show your full name, birthday, and picture
Some examples of acceptable documents include:
– School or work ID
– Utility bill
– Marriage license
– Legal name change paperwork
– Credit card (with the number blacked out)
– Birth certificate
Once we receive your response with the proper identification attached, we can assist you further. In the meantime, don’t create a new account because this could make it more difficult to resolve your issue.
Note that we will not be able to take any action on this account unless we receive the proper documents. Sorry for the inconvenience.
For more information on our name policies, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=258984010787183
Thanks,
The Facebook Team
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Yes. This is real-not a scam. At first, I thought it was some kind of Facebook hack but after further investigation, it appears my last name is part of a “blacklist” of names that Facebook does not allow because they appear to be ‘fake’…for obvious reasons. I found another young woman who had this same thing happen to her with the last name “Istanbul.” This is absolute discrimination by Facebook! You can’t choose your last name and a company that relies heavily on names to connect people to one another should not have the right to kick people off Facebook at their command without warning.
She got it sorted out last night and Facebook officially apologized for the “mistake.”- Take that Mark Zuckerburg. Thankfully, they are now aware of our name and hopefully I will not run into this issue as my job relies on Facebook to keep the Gossip Genie clients afloat! Consider this post as a warning to all you bad last namers out there, stay strong!
