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A 17-YEAR-OLD Irish girl was allegedly forced into stripping on Skype by a 19-year-old US man who has been charged with hacking into the webcams of several women to extort nude photos and videos from them.
The claim is contained in an FBI affidavit that was presented in court as Jared James Abrahams from California was charged with crimes known by police as “sextortion”.
Abrahams is alleged to have used malicious software to remotely operate webcams to capture nude photos and videos of at least seven women as they changed clothes, some of whom he knew personally and others he found by hacking Facebook pages.
The FBI claim that the man then threatened the women that he would distribute the photos online unless they provided nude pictures of themselves.
The teenager in Ireland is one of the women and she is said to have responded to the demands by writing: “Please remember I’m 17. Have a heart,” according to the court record.
Abrahams allegedly responded: “I’ll tell you this right now! I do NOT have a heart. However, I do stick to my deals. Also age doesn’t mean a thing to me!!!”
The girl then allegedly stripped during a Skype session, according to the FBI affidavit.
Gardaí said that they were not aware of the case and that if the offence was committed in another jurisdiction they would not be involved.
Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf
The case came to public attention after one of the Abrahams’ victims Cassidy Wolf, who subsequently won the Miss Teen USA beauty pageant, went public about what happened.
Cassidy Wolf told the website of NBC’s “Today” show that earlier this year she had received an anonymous email in which the sender claimed to have stolen images from the camera on her home computer.
Instead, Wolf went to authorities, and an investigation was launched in March.
Abrahams subsequently surrendered to agents at the FBI office in Orange County to face a charge of extortion that could send him to federal prison for up to two years.
He was later freed on $50,000 bail but a judge confined him to his family home, ordered him to wear a GPS monitor, and said he could only use the home computer for schoolwork, with software to be installed that will monitor its use.
- Additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
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A nice stretch in a tough US prison for him where it’ll be his turn to strip naked for some new friends. No computers required. Roll on shower-time.
Unfortunatly he was released on bail. I think that idiot should go back to jail and stay there.
Innocent until proven guilty…?
Guilty until proven Innocent.
I’d pity the fool who saw me naked.
I’m no fool, and you need to clean those windows!
Haha Sandra, good one
Iam no fool either , and I wish you wouldn’t keep closing the curtains.
Dirty sc@mbag
@karol I completely agree with you.
Hope you are well friend
You’re definitely trolling me.
No no i agree with you Karol
Ok. I feel uncomfortable reading that from someone with the same name as you. very stalkerish or something!!
Tell me about it Jack.
What do you guys mean are two playing trolling on me?
Happened to me a week or two back as well. Happens on the IT all the time.
I had a friend who was watching Sligo Rovers playing in Europe on a laptop in his parents room while lying on their bed in his boxers(he really likes football)
Next thing that appears on screen is an image of him lying on the bed saying he has been caught watching child porn and that the Gardaí will be notified unless he pays a “fine” and it gave bank account details. The image on the screen had Garda emblems and a picture of Michael D Higgins. Random
He continued watching the match a bit perturbed when next thing there was a knock on the front door. When he answered there was a guy wearing a dark jacket. My mate asked him who he was to which he replied he was the police. It turned out he was actually some guy from Airtricity being a funny guy but his timing had been impeccable.
My friend showed us all the photo which was a little creepy but I think it was he who needed new boxers after the knock on the door…………
Your mate could do wih some anti-virus software.
Not all anti virus packages would stop such an attack without also blocking the likes of Skype
Masking tape over your webcam is a lot more secure.
Fair point Colin, years ago I remember my sister covering the camera on her laptop with a plaster and us all rolling around the place laughing at her, proves she may have had a point but I’m not telling her she was right ;)
mad story. can you disable webcams
I with the screwdriver
Your mate could do with serious therapy…….watching Sligo Rovers. C’mon.
One of the first things I do with a laptop is disable the webcam driver.
Didn’t think Michael D Higgins was any good at computer hacking. You think you know someone and then you hear this.I won’t be voting for him again.
Isn’t that the virus the Journal did an article on recently?
Cant find that article but here’s the Gardai web page explaining it http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=9445
In boxers on his parents bed watching Irish soccer…pervert!!!!
Aww Jesus! The poor lad! Haha!
dont worry we all did it for you
In all seriousness , that is an awful thing to happen to this girl , is sexual abuse.
*it is
How the f#ck was she forced to strip by someone on the other side of the Atlantic?
He recorded her getting dressed via webcam hacking. He then threatened to plaster it all over the net unless she gave him a private show.
Did she not have a brain to think he’d be recording that as well?
Why did she think people would have any interest in seeing naked pictures of her? Is she a celebrity? She must think she’s hot or something. There are billions of naked pics of people on the internet. It just shows how young and naive she was. Now there’s probably a video of her stripping on some server somewhere. Although no one will want to see that either.
Of course he was recording it, but he told her he wouldn’t show them to anyone if she went through with it. Did you even read the article???
was she getting dressed or undressed in front of her open laptop or what??
A man from Airtricity said he was from the police? Really? I think you should supply the details of this offence to the Gardai.
Yes you should. It is annoying enough having Airtricity knocking on our doors once every 6 weeks without them breaking the law by impersonating a Garda.
Before you go looking for the mans head, you might want to assume the possibility that he was making a joke. I’d say you’re a riot to hang out with.
Spot on Amy, it was an off the cuff remark by some guy trying to crack a joke after knocking on two hundred doors. I don’t think there is any need for a rope and an angry crowd with pitchforks………..
Cop on.
However for someone not expecting a call from the gardai, I wonder what goes through their head since most unexpected calls from Gardaí involve deaths or serious injury of loved ones.
How about he makes that joke to an elderly person ?
Sometimes these are commission agents wanting to sign you up on the doorstep with the latest supplier switching deal, & they start with a joke.
Should be reported so Airtricity improve their sales training, & this doesn’t reoccur.
The Gardai are the Police in Ireland arent they ?
Similar story to the film “Compliance” hard to believe this can happen to sane people, worth a watch !
Absolutely vile piece of sh@t hope the give him a nice long sentence.
Even better Michelle, chances are he will spend less time on the computer than normal so atleast he’ll be lowering his ‘Carbon Footprint’. eh?? eh??
Haha stalker;)
Lol, knew ud be online like a flash, more like : )
What can I say, my predictably is legendary.
He would blackmail me to keep my clothes on
Sounds like he could have a bright future in intelligence gathering.
JJ Abrahams…
Despicable crime but you have to wonder at the intelligence of people who go on to provide more nudity.
She was a kid. Don’t think it would worked as well on an adult.
Exactly.
If you right click while watching a video on YouTube, and click on settings, a window pops up that asks you to allow access to your camera and microphone.. Some of these are defaulted on allow!!
Let’s condone the rape of this man – because that would somehow make everything right?!?!? What?!?!? Sick. You’re as bad as him.
The simplest solution to this would be a rather low-tech on/off switch for the built-in webcam and one that does not rely on software. Something that just cuts the power or signal to the camera entirely. Or, even a sliding lens cap that has to be opened to enable the camera.
You can buy various stick-on solutions online too that allow you to physically block the lens of the webcam on your PC or Mac with a sliding cover that can be opened when you want to use it and closed when not in use.
Also handy for keeping your smartphone’s camera lens clean and scratch free too!
I think at this stage it would be reasonable for manufacturers to step up to the mark and start providing this kind of basic privacy functionality by default!
It’s a very, very easy problem to solve.
If the webcam is built into your laptop just put a plaster over it. Simples.
Bom-chick-a-wah-wah.
When the knock came on the door came did he answer in his boxers ? ;)
Gardai run for cover ! Shame!
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