Tag: Extortion

FBI finds sharp rise in online extortion of teens tricked into sending sexually explicit photos

R H

Source: pbs.org 12/19/22 WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI sounded the alarm Monday about an explosive increase in teenage boys being targeted online and extorted for money after being tricked into sending sexually explicit pictures. At least 3,000 children, mostly teenage boys, have been victims of the schemes that are connected to more than a dozen suicides this year, a scale that U.S. authorities have not seen before, Justice Department officials said. Many think they are chatting online with kids around their own age but are quickly manipulated into sending explicit…

Read More

CA: San Jose teen’s death hours after scam is part of troubling increase in ‘sextortion’ cases, FBI says

R H

Source: abc7news.com 5/21/22 SAN JOSE, Calif. — Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 to connect with a trained counselor or visit the NSPL site.   Ryan Last received a message on a school night in February from someone he believed to be a girl. Within hours, the 17-year-old, straight-A student and Boy Scout had died by suicide, CNN reported. “Somebody reached out to him pretending to be a girl, and they started…

Read More

WA: Sex offender sentenced to more than 12 years for extortion scheme

R H

[kitsapsun.com – 5/4/21] Saying she would sentence him longer if she could, a Kitsap County Superior Court judge gave a sex offender 12 ½ years in prison for an online extortion scheme targeting gay men in which he assumed the identity of a prior victim. Judge Jennifer Forbes told Christopher Malik Longmire, 25, the 152-month maxim sentence was “not enough.” “I’ve come to the conclusion that our society needs to be protected from you as long as the law will allow,” Forbes said. Kitsap County sheriff’s detectives started unraveling the…

Read More

UK: Jail for Fife woman who extorted cash from innocent man in sex offender smear campaign

R H

[thecourier.co.uk – 4/19/21] A woman who threatened to brand an innocent man a sex offender to extort thousands of pounds and a TV set has been jailed for more than two and a half years. Sharon McDonald targeted the man on numerous occasions over a ten-month period. Previously at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, McDonald admitted extorting £2,700 and the electrical equipment out of her target. On Monday, Sheriff William Gilchrist sentenced McDonald to 31 months in prison. McDonald, who had already been remanded in custody since before Christmas, had her sentence…

Read More

CA: County jail inmates announce hunger strike to protest ‘price gouging’

R H

[calaverasenterprise.com – 9/25/19] Seventeen inmates at the Calaveras County Jail have announced their plan to initiate a hunger strike in protest of “outrageous prices” for telephone calls and commissary items including soup and ramen noodles. “Not only are we afflicted, but our families as well,” the inmates wrote in a letter to the Enterprise. “We have made attempts at every other level to have this situation resolved, to no avail. We are hoping that the public can get involved and know the real situation that is going on here.” advertisement…

Read More

CA: All of Mugshots.com’s alleged co-owners arrested on extortion charges

R H

[UPDATED LINKS 5/20/18] [arstechnica.com 5/17/18] Two alleged owners of Mugshots.com—Sahar Sarid and Thomas Keesee—have been arrested in south Florida on a recently issued California warrant. The notorious website publishes mugshots and then demands payment for their removal. On Wednesday, the attorney general of California brought criminal charges against not only Sarid and Keesee, but also Kishore Vidya Bhavnanie and David Usdan. The quartet has been charged with extortion, money laundering, and identity theft. Bhavnanie was arraigned by a Pennsylvania state judge also on Wednesday—his bail was reportedly set at $1.86…

Read More

Use copyright law to battle mugshot extortion

R H

[abajournal.com 3/27/18] After her DUI charge was dropped, Julie Cantu thought her nightmare was over. Then, she went on a date. Over dinner, Cantu’s would-be-suitor was asking questions anyone asks on a first date. Then he asked about her criminal record. Caught off-guard by the question, she thought about the dropped charge. Her blood alcohol had been 0.021, well below the legal limit of 0.08, and she had no other contact with the law. How did her date know? After getting home, the Florida resident and retired nurse went online…

Read More

CA: Posting mugshots on internet draws criminal charges from California attorney general

R H

[sacbee.com 5/16/18] California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday filed extortion and money laundering charges against the owners of a website that publishes mugshot photos and charges a fee to remove them. His office is targeting Mugshots.com, which pulls photos and identifying information about criminal suspects from law enforcement departments around the country. The site charges a “de-publishing fee” to remove someone from its archives, according to Becerra’s office. Becerra said it has frustrated people who were accused of crimes they did not commit. “This pay-for-removal scheme attempts to profit…

Read More

Fight Against Mugshot Sites Brings Little Success

R H

[pewtrusts.org] Mike Anderson was an 18-year-old freshman at Texas State University when he was busted with less than a gram of weed. Police arrested him, took his mugshot, and he spent the night in jail. The legal consequences for being caught with such a small amount of marijuana — just enough for a joint or two — were minimal, but expensive. Prosecutors offered to drop the charges if he attended a drug program and did community service, and he could later get the record of his arrest expunged for about…

Read More

Conservative Governors Take On the Mugshot Racket

Admin

Last week, a New York Times article titled “Mugged by a Mugshot Online” described the dubious business of mugshot extortion. Dozens of companies acquire the post-arrest mugshots — which are public records — of individuals who may or may not have been convicted. They then post the pictures on a website and charge a fee — sometimes in the hundreds of dollars — for removal. Moreover, even the payment of the fee doesn’t necessarily stop a website’s owner from launching a new site, reposting the same mugshot, and demanding yet another fee…

Read More