SAN ANTONIO – It’s been nearly five years since 25-year-old Marc Anthony Martinez was killed in a seven-car pile-up off of I-10 near Wurzbach Road in 2016.
However, according to Marc’s family, a picture of him recently surfaced on a new Instagram account with a caption that said he was on a lunch break.
The social media activity of the fake account not only reopened the painful reality that Marc is gone, but also caused confusion and anger, the family tells us.
Marc’s dad, Tony Martinez, said it wasn’t easy coming across this discovery.
“I put a comment on there saying, ‘this is my deceased son’s identity you’re using and pictures and videos,’” said Tony Martinez.
Tony said they were notified of the spam account by some of Marcs’ friends and after bombarding the account with messages, his daughter was blocked by the user.
“He hasn’t blocked me yet. I can still search it and find it and I’ll go on there. I just went on there today and I still see comments that his friends are making. You know this is a scam,” said Tony.
The spoof account curated around inviting followers for a chance to earn extra cash.
“You know, it’s just, it’s wrong to do that to anybody, you know, deceased or alive, but deceased, that’s crazy,” said Tony.
Marc’s sister Desiree Martinez said her brother was notorious for sharing his work life on Instagram and that someone saw an opportunity and used it.
“Well, we both worked for the same credit union, so he worked with some of my old employees and he loved it. So, it was all it was part of his life. He lived there practically. So, it was all over his social media,” said Desiree.
The family said their efforts of notifying both Facebook and Instagram of the spam account have proven unsuccessful. The account’s last posting was on June 24th, but it has yet to be deactivated.
Although Martinez has yet to file a police report, he says he has filed a case using the FBI’s IC3 website, an internet crime complaint center aimed at tackling internet-related criminal activity.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft cases of a deceased person can also be filed through them and police reports are encouraged.
SAPD said anyone who believes they are a victim of fraud can report it, including if the person is dead.