TAMPA — Rachel Canning checked the Instagram app on her iPhone before heading into her sorority chapter meeting Monday evening. Afterward, when she checked it again, she had 200 pending "follow" requests.

It's difficult to confuse Canning, a 22-year-old blond homecoming queen at the University of South Florida, with the 18-year-old brunet of the same name who is making international headlines this week. That Rachel Canning left her New Jersey home last year, sued her parents for child support and college money, and heard a judge on Tuesday deny her demands.

Yet commenters have bombarded the social media accounts of USF's Rachel Canning, especially her old Facebook campaign page for homecoming queen, mistaking her for the other Canning.

In a matter of hours, her page exploded with long lectures about how she should be more grateful. Commenters used profanity, told her how terrible she was, said they wished she would get hit by a bus. Some were as far away as Amsterdam. Middle aged men tried to strike up private-message conversations.

"At first, I thought, 'What the heck?' " Canning said. "I was more disturbed at the online bullying going on. Regardless, this girl's only 18. I couldn't believe there were full-grown adults that spent their day not only stalking this girl but sending bullying messages. . . . I've never been on the receiving end of anything like that."