Just in case you've been planning on blackmailing a teen pageant queen with naked photos you've surreptitiously stolen from her computer, take this case to heart first. Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf was only one of many women allegedly targeted in just such a scheme by a 19-year-old computer science student, who was arrested yesterday. This comes six months after the FBI executed a search warrant on the home of the student, Jared James Abrahams, from Temecula, California. He is accused of remotely taking control of the webcams of several young women while they were changing their clothes. He then allegedly contacted them and made threats, demanding that they send him more photos and videos or be exposed online. Abrahams is linked to at least eight other women, according to authorities.
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Wolf's involvement began after she received a Facebook notification that someone had attempted to log in to her account and change her passwords, and her Twitter avatar was changed to a half-nude image of herself. She then began to receive messages demanding that she send more nude photos and engage in Skype sessions. "Either you do one of the things listed below or I upload these pics and a lot more (I have a LOT more and those are better quality) on all your accounts for everybody to see and your dream of being a model will be transformed into a pornstar," he wrote.
Other women have reported similar stories. After the FBI became involved, they traced e-mails, IP addresses and other communications linked to Abraham. During the June search of his home, Abraham admitted to authorities that he had 30 to 40 "slave computers" under his control at that time, and at one point had up to 150.
Abraham's lawyer spoke outside the California court where his client appeared yesterday, saying Abraham's family "wants to apologize for the consequences of his behavior to the families who were affected." Abraham was released after his parents signed bond agreements totaling $50,000. He is now "on intensive pretrial supervision and home detention with electronic monitoring," according to an FBI spokesperson. (CNN)
Photo: Via Christian Science Monitor.