Maltese's Anti-Ghosting Poster Challenge Due Eve of Halloween

Maryann Maltese, Candidate for NYS Assembly 12th AD, is sponsoring an Anti-Ghosting Poster Making Contest for Ages K-12, due on the Eve of Halloween-October 30th.

Webster's dictionary and our Urban Roots define Ghosting as: "Ghosting is a colloquial term used to describe the practice of ceasing all communication and contact with a partner, friend, or similar individual without any apparent warning or justification and subsequently ignoring any attempts to reach out or communicate made by said partner, friend, or individual."

But what if friendship and money exchanges hands and you can not find your Ghost? What is the Human's recourse in NYS as we are still standing on Land and the Ghost has taken off with our money? Right now-the Human or Victim has no legal recourse, leaving the victim responsible for picking up the pieces of themselves, financially and emotionally-sometimes creating more self-doubt than necessary, blaming themselves for the Ghost's ability to defraud them. Ghosting is serious because before it was a ghost-it was some virtual formation of a fellow Human- It's not quite an online romantic scam because mainly Ghosts just evaporate into thin air-cowards with intent to defraud one by manipulating them into the friendship. With Pandemic; online friendships are being built at record rays of light-and victims feel that they are safe enough to manage it. By Social distancing ourselves-it has become the arena for Ghosting to spread it's non-Casper the Friendly Ghost attitude around Town. And this Halloween, our Town want's to Get into Anti-Ghosting Poster Contest to Scare them Back into their crib".

If the "Ghost" was able to build trust with you and money or gifts with intent of friendship and/or love exchange hands or now by your Social Media Profiles-then once the Ghost leaves and doesn't provide the Human with repayment of such-then crimes have occurred. Rules of Law are necessary to protect the Victims.

There is discussion nationally speaking on what steps can be taken to Have the Ghost be responsible and what measures a Human can take to set boundaries for themselves to prevent Ghosting. Ghosting impacts the young at heart-its ageless and when it victimizes teens or young adults; they feel helpless because they might not be old enough to pursue financial recourse if their parents choose not to pursue it or they themselves are not of age to be declared by NYS as Independent Persons. By Independent I mean, NYS has granted the Teen to be Legally responsible for themselves entirely. Many Parents-and School Educators guide young people on ways to reduce Ghosting or how to deal with the pain of when the Ghost has left the Site-but what is not in place-are Measures for the Human- for those who are students and have been ghosted- to retrieve "their love,-or legally speaking-acts of consideration when a promise is made rules must be implemented to ensure that the Ghost repays their debts".

A question to answer-and then the Adults reading can advise us if there is a need for Rules on Anti-Ghosting:

Has an online friend or Ghost ever asked you; Can I borrow $10.00 and I'll pay you back. I'm not getting paid until Thursday and I have no Food?" As the Human-who now has a friendship with this Ghost-did you lend them this money? How often did you send Online Funding or Gift Cards too that Ghost or online Profile domains during the duration of the Online Friendship because a Ghost has never met you in Person yet? Did you provide them with enough "consideration-money" to help them in time of need?. Did the Ghost make you feel like this Friendship is important to them, and if the friendship is important to you as well -then you as the Human is in a better place because of them (the Ghost?). Did you believe the Ghost's hardship story and or pleas-and then in the Ghost's need for Money (resources) at that moment which you as a great Friend-delivered on the promise? How many Helped a Ghost by purchasing Gift cards to send to the Ghosts electronically as a measure in exchange of cash money to help an online friend-which then turned into a Ghost-and you lost your investment-because this Ghost evaporated? It happens often with online friendships-or what we thought was a friendship after getting your funds and then shutting down their profile. That sounds illegal right? Yes it sounds that way to me-but w-hat is the recourse for the Human if you can not find the Ghost? What are the rules in NYS to file a complaint and seek monetary retribution against the Ghost-a spirit who no longer cares about you or worse does not have a Profile to sort it out-you don't have a valid phone number to discuss repayment of their loans that both of you agreed too ? I don't know what the rules to protect me are as a Human that could be sucked into a Ghosting scam-Do you know what the rules of Law are? If we don't know- Then-Welcome to Ghosting-You've been Ghosted and your Mad like Hell-not because the relationship ended, but because you gave trust and friendship to someone you befriended-you thought it was Casper-but it turned out to be an Evil Ghost-who did pay you back before ending the relationship. You feel so stupid that you're not sure what to do-do I tell my parents-yes and we take action.

Here's why-

NYS needs to recognize that the Ghost or online relationship-is just that a relationship-presently NYS does not recognize it. Without recognizing in Law-then Victims do not have a recourse to retrieve their loan or funds from the Ghost. You go around aimlessly trying to put the creditors or financial institutions involved on notice to help you-and it leads to endless grave yards of despair.

NYS pursues crimes where $1,000 is owed for personal loans when non-exchange of goods and services has occurred. The Ghosting Relationship needs to be similarly legally classified as such so the victims can civilly pursue the Ghost and if financial thresholds meet criminal actions-then Law enforcement can assist you. NYS needs to step it up and introduce Anti-Ghosting Measures before it becomes much more severe like Online Romantic Crimes where the differences are Time or duration of the relationship and amounts of money/consideration has been exchanged illegally.

With Ghosting- NYS Small Claims Court is a recourse to assist-if we can track down some details. It's difficult to bring Ghosts to Civil Court to pursue them if one is not in Human Form or we can no longer track down their Profile-or person? One must be diligent in obtaining physical addresses and details of the Ghost while you are building online trust and friendship. Ideas to gather of the Ghost before issuing Consideration and Money-asking for proof of their Date of Birth-verification of it, Social Security Numbers with Proof of their Cards, Proof of Identity as in a Driver's License or Non-Driver's ID or perhaps a School Identification card before sending that Gift Card via Social Media platforms-and keeping a log of such events in the event the Ghost disintegrates-leaving you lost of the friendship and now your MONEY. Once that transpires with intent to defraud-it is criminal activity-however-NYS doesn't have Laws to help the victims of the Ghost.

All of us are so quick to exchange our personal vital information over the internet with another in the hopes that Friendship has been built or established-the Ghost feeds off this sucking the life out of the situation-leaving its residue on the victim. Trust can be offered too quickly-and now that COVID 19 State of Emergency Pandemic has re-vamped, restructured our lives; it's that much easier for Online Predators to encourage friendships-with the intent to GHOST-once intent occurs it's criminally liable for the Human to receive Civil compensation for the acts and if Laws in NYS are enacted-then then victims of ghosting who are impacted can have their their legal fees covered in addition to refurbishment of their funds lost for such intentional Ghosting Scams and Acts are necessary. What once was seen as just a Ghost playing a prank-establishing multiple online profiles- for attention or some sick games on their part-has now emerged into Ghosts becoming much more aggressive in their Intentional ways of defrauding people of their Money-but such examples of asking the victims to send them "gift cards through Media websites" to exchange for goods and services-but the Human is left with the Credit Card Bill or loss of funds.

Ghosts build on trust-they are professional manipulators, some narcissistic gaining joy from their endeavors. How many times did your Ghost ask you to send a quick "$25.00 gift card to them and they"ll pay you back?" Did you receive payment of you loan? If you didn't get paid back- Many of us shrug it off as it's not costly-and we continue being sucked into the Intentional Acts of the Ghost. When the Ghost acts intentionally repeatedly-and you reach NYS's recognizable amounts of money exchanged-then it is a Crime-that's when the victim needs to take action and have resources to do so.

Now, I'm advocating for the passage of Anti-Ghosting Measures to be enacted in NYS-and I'm asking students to get on board and create Posters-their own personal creations promoting Anti-Ghosting Measures in NYS. It's the first of it's kind in NYS and this Halloween Season; as we're limited in our ways of Human Contact with Social Distancing, creativity in the creations of the posters are limitless. The Anti-Ghosting Poster Contest is open to grades K-12 to submit their creations, but those of us that might be slightly older can assist a student by two ways;

Sharing their Experiences if they have been Ghosted which by doing so is a Pro-Active Measure in educating youth of the ways in which one might have been Ghosted and how they Managed it. I like to believe it's the New Boys and Girls Club of America mentality we're bringing to the surface with intent to get the Passage of NYS Anti-Ghosting Measures in place.

By Promoting Passage of NYS Anti-Ghosting Measures it will help bring peace to the victims and give resources to law enforcement to do so-this is the reason a New Rule of Law is necessary because one can not move forward in their life if they have not resolved Ghosting Matters-and once Money is exchanged; Rules of enforcement to help the Victims recover is necessary. The Ghost doesn't care-why should we care about the Ghost any longer?-with Rules of Law in place-it's our community taking Pro-Active Measures to help the Victims and to fund pro-educational platforms. Enforcement brings funding to Educate on Anti-Ghosting Measures.

Where are my Anti-Ghoster's-it's similar to the New Marvel based Hero's taking action and getting results. NYS Legislators are the equivalent of Marvel Hero's-we hear situations-we take action to create steps for justice.

Get creative with your Anti-Ghosting Poster Measures-put on your best Anti-Ghost Costume or Outfit and grab a Younger Anti-Ghoster's hand and let's spread advocacy.

Education is power.

Here's the details on the Anti-Ghosting Poster Contest by October 30, 2020. Winner's will be announced on Halloween-local Press Coverage and the ability to have your Poster used in publicity or advocacy platforms will be encouraged.

Please submit your PDF or Picture of your Anti-Ghosting Poster to: Maryannmaltesefornysassembly@gmail.com

With your Poster submissions; in the body of the email, please provide your Name, Your School your grade, your address, phone number, parent or guardians name to have contact with.

A Zoom Conference Call or email contact will be provided on Halloween to the winners-providing details on prizes provided to the winners

Maryann Maltese, a Candidate for NYS Assembly 12th AD is a former NYS Regional Communications Manager for the NYS Legislature, Maryann is also a licensed RE Sales Associate, Owns a Hair Styling Business and is a Certified Substitute Teacher with Brentwood UFSD. Maryann has 30 years of Campaign Management Experiences with 18 years of practical experiences with the NYS Legislature. During Maryann's tenure working with the NYS Legislature, such laws and or programs were enacted; Universal Pre-K established, DASA-Dignity for All Students ACT, Anti-Sex Offender Living within 500 feet of Schools, Community Centers and Houses of Worship Law and a host of other pro-family measures. Now Maryann is lending her experiences to the Anti-Ghosting Law enactment and asking Members of the 12th NYS Assembly District to get on board and help create some promotional poster creations to spread advocacy. Winners will have the opportunity for their creations to be publicized locally in local press and receive a prize. All entries will be acknowledged.

If there are any local businesses or volunteers looking to get involved by donating a gift certificate- and or Spreading the Anti-Ghosting Platforms-please reach out to maryannmaltesefornysassembly@gmail.com.

Let's spook the Ghosts back and take control of it by Halloween's Eve. See you in the district.