A University of Utah student was being extorted by her ex-boyfriend before he killed her, police say. Lauren McCluskey, 21, had reported an extortion attempt to university police on Oct. 13, nine days before she was killed. McCluskey told the officers that she had wired $1,000 to an account earlier in the month to prevent “compromising pictures” of her and her ex-boyfriend Melvin Rowland from being released to the public, according to Fox News. But it took six days for university police to begin investigating the extortion attempt - a fact officials blamed on workload issues, according to CBS News. Also, while they were aware of the 37-year-old Rowland’s status as a sex offender, they didn’t know he was on parole at the time. “It was assigned out to a detective. The detective had been in contact with Ms. McCluskey, and they were working to build a case against our…
facebook+extortion
Express News Service MANGALURU: When a Tulu film comedian got a friend request on Facebook from a pretty girl calling herself Ashwini, he readily accepted and soon fell victim to blackmail and extortion. A police complaint followed. The Mangaluru police traced the girl to Bengaluru. But, when they caught her after a chase and took her to the jurisdictional Bengaluru police station on Tuesday, they and the comedian who was present got the shock of their lives. Though the accused was dressed as a girl, the Bengaluru police who recognised ‘Ashwini’ told them it was a boy. ‘Ashwini’ alias Adithya (19), a first PU student, is a resident of Subedar Palya, Yeshwantpur. The police also nabbed his accomplice, Arun H S (27), who hails from Kanakapura, and a supervisor with a cab aggregator. Both were charged with blackmail and extortion. ‘Ashwini’ alias Adithya Uday M Nayak, ACP, Central Mangaluru, said they…
A Summit County man learned the hard way last month that you can’t always trust people you meet online. The 21-year-old had been communicating with someone he thought was a woman on Facebook when the person convinced him to send explicit photos of himself through the messenger app, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. The person demanded money to not make the photos public, so the victim sent $100 through Western Union, a Sheriff’s Office report states. The person then requested an additional $1,000, but the victim refused to send it. The victim filed a report with the Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 26. Lt. Andrew Wright said reports of people attempting to extort others over social media are becoming increasingly common. “It’s so easy for people to disguise themselves and have ill intentions,” he said. “Before anyone chooses to engage in that type of risqué behavior, they really…
Cops have launched a cybersex extortion probe after a teenager was lured into posing naked for an online scam artist. PAISLEY DAILY EXPRESS: Live news as it happens The 19-year-old victim, from Inchinnan, was tricked by a crook who posed as an attractive young woman before befriending him on Facebook. The con artist asked the young man to strip before recording the footage and then attempting to blackmail him. The stunned teenager was warned that if he didn’t transfer £1,500 to the crook, the sensitive footage would be sent to his family and friends on social media. Read More News: Paisley church has its prayers answered after finding new home Following the sickening incident, cops have now issued advice and warned members of the public to be aware of the scam. Inspector Cassie Glass, from the area’s community policing team, said: “We received reports that a 19-year-old male from…
Published July 28, 2018, 3:21 PM By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has warned the public against the proliferation of fake social media accounts using the agency’s name that may be used to extort money in exchange of the availment of government services. (MANILA BULLETIN) “We would like to warn the public on the proliferation of fake Facebook accounts bearing the name of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The circulation of these accounts is alarming since they can be used to deceive the public to support or donate money for fake initiatives of the government that will help poor Filipinos,” DSWD Acting Secretary Virginia Orogo said. One of the said fake accounts was discovered under the profile name, “DSWD PH” which uses the official social media logo of the DSWD field office in Central Luzon. At present, the Department only…
Editor’s note: This commentary is by Tom Evslin, an entrepreneur, author and former Douglas administration official. This post first appeared on his blog, Fractals of Change. My wife Mary received the threatening email below: I do know, xxxxx [redacted. a throwaway password Mary once used on sites that shouldn’t require a password], is your pass word [sic]. You may not know me and you’re most likely thinking why you are getting this e-mail, correct? Well, I setup a malware on the adult video clips (adult porn) web site and guess what, you visited this web site to experience fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching videos, your web browser initiated working as a RDP (Remote control Desktop) with a key logger which provided me access to your display and also web camera. Right after that, my software gathered all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook, and…
Posted: May. 30, 2018 12:01 am A Hackettstown man and former Middlesex County municipal fire inspector who leveraged his father’s murder conviction and alleged mob ties to scare a real estate developer admitted to conspiring to extortion, according to federal prosecutors. Billy Donnerstag, 49, pleaded guilty on May 15 before federal Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark to conspiracy to commit extortion using threats of force, violence and fear, according to a release from the office of the U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito. Between December 2016 and June 2017, Donnerstag conspired with Joseph P. Martinelli, 64, of Kenvil, to extort the developer, who was not named in the indictment against Donnerstag and only identified as being located in Middlesex County. According to the indictment against Donnerstag, the pair told the owner that he or she had not paid for the sale of a property a decade earlier and in an…
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - An Orange City police officer was arrested on a warrant after Georgia authorities said he attempted to extort nude photos from a woman on social media, threatening to kill and rape her family if she did not comply. Joshua David Fancher, 25, was arrested Tuesday at his home in DeLand on a warrant charging him with making terroristic threats, according to officials with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives in Lowndes County, Georgia, said Fancher first started messaging the victim on Instagram, demanding she send him nude photos. Fancher threatened to kill the victim and her family and rape them if she didn’t send him the photos, according to Lowndes County authorities. Volusia County Sheriff’s Office detectives searched Fancher’s apartment on a warrant out of Georgia to assist with the ongoing investigation. Fancher was called in from patrol Tuesday morning and arrested, Orange City Police Department spokesperson Lt. Jason Sampsell said. The…
Surat: Two separate cases of women being blackmailed and harassed by men through social media have been registered with the city police on Monday. In one complaint, the accused made abusive comments on the woman’s Facebook page to defame her. In the other case, the accused issued threats to share the photos of the woman on social media if he was not paid money. Tushar Patel, a resident in Parvat Patiya, was booked at Puna police station for making abusive comments on Facebook page to defame the complainant woman and her mother. The accused was booked for harassment and also under the Sections of the Information Technology Act. The woman alleged in her complaint that the accused made the comments to tarnish her image with the intention to break her engagement. The complainant had recently got engaged to a man according to the wish of her family. The woman…
Thousands of UK men are victims to sextortion gangs according to figures released by the National Crime Agency (NCA). In 2017 1,304 cases of sextortion were reported to the NCA’s Anti-Kidnap and Extortion Unit (AKEU) by police forces across the UK. This is nearly three times more than the number of cases reported in 2015. Organised criminal gangs, often overseas, use fake online identities to befriend victims looking for genuine friendships online and persuade them to do sexual acts in front of a webcam. Gangs then use this footage to blackmail victims, threatening to share the video online. Roy Sinclair, operations manager from the National Crime Agency told ITV News some victims had been “in crisis” over being blackmail, and five people had taken their own lives. Both men and women can become targets. However according to the NCA young males aged 17 TO 25 and with an increasing…