Worried about 'sextortion'? FBI shares cautionary tale

[BlueGin]

Worried about 'sextortion'? FBI shares cautionary tale



The FBI is urging computer users — young teens and parents of those teens — to take precautions to help prevent becoming victims of "sextortion," where criminals use social networks to gain users' trust, convincing them to send lewd or pornographic photos or videos, then threatening to share them widely if more photos aren't sent.

In one recent case, a 13-year-old girl pleaded with a man who had initially gained her trust that she did not want to take her shirt off in front of a webcam, telling the extortionist she had "a life, please do not ruin it," the FBI said in a release. But eventually, stricken with fear, the teen gave into his demands.

That man, Christopher Patrick Gunn, of Montgomery, Ala., was sentenced last month to 35 years in prison for producing child pornography through his massive online sextortion scheme, the FBI said.

For more than two years, he gained the trust of girls in a half-dozen states and in Ireland by using two ruses. One was the "new kid" approach. He created a fake Facebook profile, and posted in messages to the girls that he was new in the area and looking to make friends, said the FBI. "Once he established a level of trust, he began making demands."

In the second ruse, he pretended to be Justin Bieber on various video chat services, including Skype. (Gunn, in his 30s, does not look like the teen heartthrob, so he may have only been using text chat on the services.) Once Gunn convinced the teens he was Bieber, the FBI says, "he offered them free concert tickets or backstage passes in exchange for topless photos or webcam videos."

With either ploy, Gunn "got to know everything about the girls — their friends’ names, their schools, their parents’ names — it was like a script," Erik Doell, a special agent in the FBI’s Montgomery office who investigated the case, said in the release. "Once he got a picture, the girls would just go along with it. They would do whatever they could to keep their reputations intact."


Frighteningly, the Gunn case is hardly an isolated one.


Worried about 'sextortion'? FBI shares cautionary tale  - Technology on NBCNews.com

 

[Politico]

You'll never fix stupid.

 

[waltky]

Airmen and other service members falling victim to “sextortion”...

Webcam of deceit: Some airmen fall for sex scam
Tuesday Mar 26, 2013 - You should really think twice if an attractive woman you’ve never met asks you to perform a sex act in front of a webcam.

Airmen and other service members have fallen victim to “sextortion,” in which cyber criminals posing as “attractive females seeking friendly conversation” have fooled unsuspecting victims into performing sexual acts online, according to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The extortionists secretly record the behavior and then threaten to upload the video to Facebook, YouTube and pornographic sites or send the video to the victim’s family and friends unless they pay up, OSI explained in a report.

“Multiple incidents of sextortion involving USAF members have been reported in Japan, South Korea and Alaska, one in Portugal, and one in Guam,” according to the Feb. 13 document. The cyber criminals involved have come from the Philippines and Singapore. OSI advises airmen that any request to share provocative images online is an “immediate indicator of a potential scam.”

It is not known how many service members have been caught up in the webcam of deceit. It is also unknown whether the scammers are targeting the U.S. military of if service members have been caught up in a scam aimed at the general public. “Nonetheless, USAF personnel should be vigilant about protecting their personal information online and refrain from engaging in sexual activities through the internet that may potentially make them vulnerable to extortion,” the report says.

Webcam of deceit: Some airmen fall for sex scam - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

 

[emilynghiem]

Amanda Todd of Canada died of suicide after extended extortion and bullying,
even after she made a video crying out for help.

A well loved and respected professor at A&M jumped from a building to his death
after being extorted and blamed for abusing the female victim of the extortionist who forced her to participate as a sexual lure to entrap men online to blackmail them for money.

There are known networks of people trying to compete to see how much they
can scam and "score" off extorting people, whether the underaged females
and/or men they entrap and extort by using those victims and their images.

If these people are that clever at entrapping people, they should be required to pay restitution for extortion and bullying by working for groups trying to crack down on child porn and solicitation online, and use their skills to entrap other fellow criminals and abusers.

 

[whitehall]

Geez, we have the union based education system teaching kids how to put a condom on a banana and how to feel real good about themselves (the US Dept. Ed. ranks #1 in self esteem but not much else) but they can't convince kids not to strip in front of an internet camera? It must be a sign of the end times. People are going plumb loco.

 

[Connery]

The fact that this pinhead pretended to be Just Bieber is bad enough, but that someone believed that he was Justin Bieber is 40 different kinds of stupid. These people will fall prey to other scam artists down the line.

"In the second ruse, he pretended to be Justin Bieber on various video chat services, including Skype. (Gunn, in his 30s, does not look like the teen heartthrob, so he may have only been using text chat on the services.) Once Gunn convinced the teens he was Bieber, the FBI says, "he offered them free concert tickets or backstage passes in exchange for topless photos or webcam videos."

 

[Dragonlady]

I did some modelling when I was young and on more than one occasion, the photographer would try to talk me into doing some topless photos. I always refused because of the number of young women who had allowed nude pictures to be taken that came back to haunt them in later years. This was in the 70's, before digital photography and the internet made posing for such pictures an instant mistake.

I couldn't imagine why young women didn't think of these things before disrobing. But they don't. The naked pictures you took today, could be all over the world by tomorrow morning, and once that genie's out of the bottle, it ain't going back.

 

[emilynghiem]

I did some modelling when I was young and on more than one occasion, the photographer would try to talk me into doing some topless photos. I always refused because of the number of young women who had allowed nude pictures to be taken that came back to haunt them in later years. This was in the 70's, before digital photography and the internet made posing for such pictures an instant mistake.

I couldn't imagine why young women didn't think of these things before disrobing. But they don't. The naked pictures you took today, could be all over the world by tomorrow morning, and once that genie's out of the bottle, it ain't going back.

One of the most publicized cases of this happened to Dr. Laura,
ironically because she lectures people especially women about not doing
stupid self-destructive things and it still happened to her.

This shows it can happen to the best of people, instead of blaming it on the victim for convenience so we can explain this type of injustice away.

Why not have everyone sign agreements that in order to use the internet at all, you must respect the consent of others, agree to mediate conflicts and settle them by consensus. [that way, even after a breach occurs, the people involved or affected have already signed agreements to settle the conflicts amicably and not to continue such actions violating the person's permission, consent or will.]
So only if you respect due process free speech and right to petition and to redress grievances for OTHERS EQUALLY as yourself can you use the internet, courtesy of the US military and government that is sworn to enforce Constitutional values.

Citizenship should also be based on requirements to respect the same laws we want enforced, equally as our government, police or military personnel are called to uphold laws. if people sign agreements in advance, to take social and financial responsibility for damages and debts incurred by violations or abuses they commit, why can't citizenship be revoked for people if they refuse to correct the problems they caused?

The mass education, training, and commitment it would take to get everyone to sign user agreements or citizenship agreements would, in itself, either strengthen law enforcement and democratize the justice system by redistributing responsibility back to the people for their own actions and consequences to victims and society, and/or would also help identify and weed out the criminally abusive, sick or destructive people without ability to respect the law. So at least these people could get help or enroll in remedial rehab or training BEFORE we find out the hard way they are abusing freedoms like internet access for criminal conspiracy.

We need to do better work detecting and treating dangerous criminal illness, abuse and addiction in advance, instead of letting known offenders run free to commit repeat crimes, or else that is backlogging our prison and police resources at the risk of law abiding citizens, who cannot be expected to keep paying two to three times over for the crimes and abuses of others.

 

[emilynghiem]

You'll never fix stupid.

But you can hold people responsible for paying for the debts and damages they cause
to others, instead of putting it on the victims and the taxpayers to keep paying for.

 

[Dragonlady]

This shows it can happen to the best of people, instead of blaming it on the victim for convenience so we can explain this type of injustice away.

I am not blaming the victims, but we do need to educate our daughters about what will (not can, will) happen if they allow compromising photographs to be taken. The sad thing is that girls like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian used sex tapes to gain international fame, and every hot actress going, including Beyonce, is appearing in Maxim.

Girls grow up thinking that getting naked in front of the camera is no big thing, until they do it and the pictures get spread all over town and people are laughing at them and calling them cruel names.

 

[BlueGin]

Airmen and other service members falling victim to “sextortion”...

Webcam of deceit: Some airmen fall for sex scam
Tuesday Mar 26, 2013 - You should really think twice if an attractive woman you’ve never met asks you to perform a sex act in front of a webcam.

Airmen and other service members have fallen victim to “sextortion,” in which cyber criminals posing as “attractive females seeking friendly conversation” have fooled unsuspecting victims into performing sexual acts online, according to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The extortionists secretly record the behavior and then threaten to upload the video to Facebook, YouTube and pornographic sites or send the video to the victim’s family and friends unless they pay up, OSI explained in a report.

“Multiple incidents of sextortion involving USAF members have been reported in Japan, South Korea and Alaska, one in Portugal, and one in Guam,” according to the Feb. 13 document. The cyber criminals involved have come from the Philippines and Singapore. OSI advises airmen that any request to share provocative images online is an “immediate indicator of a potential scam.”

It is not known how many service members have been caught up in the webcam of deceit. It is also unknown whether the scammers are targeting the U.S. military of if service members have been caught up in a scam aimed at the general public. “Nonetheless, USAF personnel should be vigilant about protecting their personal information online and refrain from engaging in sexual activities through the internet that may potentially make them vulnerable to extortion,” the report says.

Webcam of deceit: Some airmen fall for sex scam - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Unfortunate that people feel the need to scam the military men that are abroad. Can't even surf the internet during downtime to unwind. Takes a special kind of creep to threaten to ruin marriages and the family life of soldiers...their only suppprt system.

 

[BlueGin]

This shows it can happen to the best of people, instead of blaming it on the victim for convenience so we can explain this type of injustice away.

I am not blaming the victims, but we do need to educate our daughters about what will (not can, will) happen if they allow compromising photographs to be taken. The sad thing is that girls like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian used sex tapes to gain international fame, and every hot actress going, including Beyonce, is appearing in Maxim.

Girls grow up thinking that getting naked in front of the camera is no big thing, until they do it and the pictures get spread all over town and people are laughing at them and calling them cruel names.

Need to educate the men as well on value and respect. People like Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson and their infamous sex tapes have set women back years. But...men do love the skanks so...

 

[Katzndogz]

When did sending a picture of your genitalia to someone you just met, or would like to meet, become a social courtesy?

 

[BlueGin]

When did sending a picture of your genitalia to someone you just met, or would like to meet, become a social courtesy?

When it was learned what could be gained by it?

 

[Sunshine]

You'll never fix stupid.

Truer words were never spoken.

When did sending a picture of your genitalia to someone you just met, or would like to meet, become a social courtesy?
When it was learned what could be gained by it?

The sender has nothing to gain, only to lose.

 

[Sunshine]

I worked with a doctor who had come back to work 'out of retirement' to make money for the legal defense of his grand son who he claimed to be 'doctor material.' It seems the dumbass had posted some nude pics of himself on the internet and couldn't get into med school. IMO, anyone that stupid has judgment too poor to be 'doctor material.'

 

[BlueGin]

I worked with a doctor who had come back to work 'out of retirement' to make money for the legal defense of his grand son who he claimed to be 'doctor material.' It seems the dumbass had posted some nude pics of himself on the internet and couldn't get into med school. IMO, anyone that stupid has judgment too poor to be 'doctor material.'

Same has been said about both women and men who post questionable pictures on social sites such as facebook and then get fired from jobs because of it. People don't always use good judgement. Doesn't always mean bad judgement should ruin families or careers.

 

[BlueGin]

Why people fall victim to scams

The research, undertaken by the University of Exeter on behalf of the OFT, provides a valuable insight into why consumers fall victim to scams, as well as the psychological techniques used by scammers to con the UK public out of an estimated £3.5 billion every year.

Some of the key findings about victims of scams are that:

• up to 20% of the UK population could be particularly vulnerable to scams, with previous victims of a scam consistently more likely to show interest in responding again,

• a good background knowledge of the subject of a scam offer, such as experience of investments, may actually increase the risk of becoming a victim through ‘over-confidence’,

• victims are not in general poor-decision makers, for example they may have successful business or professional careers, but tend to be unduly open to persuasion by others and less able to control their emotions,

• victims often keep their decision to respond to a scam offer private and avoid speaking about it with family or friends.

The research also found that many scams use a range of highly persuasive techniques. A common tactic is to seek to exploit basic human emotions such as excitement or fear to provoke a spontaneous ‘gut reaction’ to the scam offer. Such scams also abuse people’s trust of authority by making a scam look like a legitimate offer from a reputable business or official institution.

Professor Stephen Lea of the University of Exeter's School of Psychology, who led the research team, said: ‘Modern economic life is complicated and we have to use all sorts of short cuts and rules of thumb to navigate our way through it. Scammers take advantage of those necessary, everyday processes. This means that no-one is immune to being scammed. We need to be on our guard both for ourselves and for our friends and family. If you have any worries that something might be a scam, you need to talk to someone else about it: It very likely is.’

Why people fall victim to scams

 

[waltky]

BlueGin wrote: Doesn't always mean bad judgement should ruin families or careers.

Unfortunately when parents use bad judgement...

... it can indeed ruin families and/or careers.

 

[FA_Q2]

I worked with a doctor who had come back to work 'out of retirement' to make money for the legal defense of his grand son who he claimed to be 'doctor material.' It seems the dumbass had posted some nude pics of himself on the internet and couldn't get into med school. IMO, anyone that stupid has judgment too poor to be 'doctor material.'

Same has been said about both women and men who post questionable pictures on social sites such as facebook and then get fired from jobs because of it. People don't always use good judgement. Doesn't always mean bad judgement should ruin families or careers.

TBH, I don’t really see why it ruins anything. I could care less if there were nude photos of me floating on the net. If you really want to be subject to that type of torture, go for it. On that same token, I am flabbergasted as to why med school or any job actually cares short of those that need some type of moral high ground (aka: schools, priests).

Other than that, I would have no issue suing a doctor that had nude photos released previously or hiring someone that had previously been in the pornographic industry.

Of course, those that do this to children are different and he got what was coming to him – large jail sentences.