Bok to sue over Facebook profile

2010-01-15 09:51

Hendrik Cronjé

Bloemfontein - Springbok and Cheetahs hooker Adriaan Strauss is considering legal action after discovering, to his great surprise, that he has had a fake Facebook profile for about four months.

This profile has caused huge embarrassment for Strauss and could, among other things, create the wrong impression that Strauss is "a bit of a ladies' man".

Strauss's legal representative, Stephan Weyers, has confirmed that the Bok hooker is furious, and that a woman allegedly created the false profile.

"We know who the guilty party is and we have cellphone numbers," says Weyers.

"Legal steps will now depend on the co-operation we're given."

Damage to his image

Weyers says Strauss has never created his own Facebook profile and isn't really interested in Facebook.

"That's exactly why he was so surprised when a friend asked him about his profile."

The extent of the damage done to the rugby player's image by the fake profile is yet to be determined, according to Weyers.

"Among other things, we now have to establish which messages were falsely sent using Strauss's name."

Weyers says it's not clear why the guilty party decided to create such a profile.

Weyers says Strauss was especially worried about what his fans would think. Especially those who were convinced it was really him accepting their friend requests and communicating with them in cyberspace.

- Volksblad