CHICAGO (WLS) — This Valentine’s Day weekend, the ABC7 I-Team alert about a romance scam known as “sextortion.” Criminals claiming to have inappropriate pictures of victims demand money. One victim shared her story with the I-Team. ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch It is a reminder about the dangers of online dating. Scammers can convince people to send inappropriate photos on apps or text, or they can use AI to recreate photos of victims without clothing. Then they demand that victims pay up, or else. One woman, who the I-Team is calling “Maria,” exclusively shared how she became the victim of a sextortion scam. She asked ABC7 to hide her face. Maria was messaging a man on a dating app for months, until he started demanding money. When she refused, he threatened to revealing photos and videos of her. His message said he would “distribute all of them” to her followers. “I happened to be online and saw that he had posted, and he was messaging everybody in the comments I have nude photos if you want to see it, which was horrific,” Maria said. READ MORE | What is sextortion? Threatening emails, direct messages part of common scam When she didn’t pay, he posted a picture of her on social media. She says the scammer used AI to make it look like she didn’t have clothing on. “They actually look for kind, compassionate people who can have attachments. and hope that you’re going to give something up in return,” Maria said. Authorities say she did the right thing by refusing to pay $3,000 in crypto. She also filed a report with the FBI’s internet crimes division, on IC3. gov. “Preserve any messages these people are sending you,” Chicago FBI Special Agent Ashley Kizler said. “Obtaining usernames, email names, addresses, don’t respond to the message. and then block that person and don’t respond and report to the FBI.” The victim says she stopped dating online and turned to an in-person matchmaker, Matchmakers Elite, in Oakbrook Terrace. They said they have been hearing a lot about the AI scams and sextortion scams. “They’re using actual photos of you and changing it in ways that are unflattering that you don’t want out there,” said Anna Rigali, senior matchmaker at Matchmakers Elite. “They’re making it look like you by using your actual photos and they’re using it to blackmail you.” Rigali says in-person dating services like the one she runs with her mother will research people’s potential criminal and personal history before clients meet them in person. “We get enough information that they can actually build a psychological profile on this person, you know, based on different factors, they’re pulling how long they’ve lived at their residences, how long they’ve kept certain jobs,” Rigali said. “If we start talking about it, it removes the power these people have,” Maria said.
https://abc7chicago.com/post/valentines-day-sextortion-warning-criminals-claiming-have-inappropriate-pictures-victims-demand-money/18597846/