The feds say they’ve nabbed the 19-year-old creep who ran a “sextortion” scam that hacked the computers of several young women, including Miss Teen USA, captured nude images and used them as blackmail.
Jared James Abrahams, of Temucula, hijacked the laptops of several young women in the U.S. and abroad, took control of their webcams and snapped videos and photos of them while they undressed, the FBI said Thursday.
The desperate cyberperv then threatened to post the photos online unless the girls sent him more pics or, in some cases, “performed” for him via Skype.
Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf, 19, was among Abraham’s victims. The two graduated from Great Oaks high School in Temecula in 2012, Wolf said.
“It’s weird for me to be able to put a face to the person who did this to me and to know that it was somebody I went to high school with,” Wolf told NBC’s “Today” show on Friday.
Wolf, 19, discovered she had been hacked last year when she received an anonymous email with private photos from her bedroom attached.
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Wolf, 19, discovered she had been hacked last year when she received an anonymous email with private photos from her bedroom attached.
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Wolf, 19, discovered she had been hacked last year when she received an anonymous email with private photos from her bedroom attached.
Cassidy, who was allegedly blackmailed in 2012 when she was Miss Teen California, said she felt sorry for Abrahams. She never knew him in high school, she said.
“It’s sad that he chose to do this and put himself in this dilemma,” she said. “He terrorized me and many girls for so long.”
Abrahams, a college freshman studying computer science, turned himself into the FBI in Orange County Thursday and was charged with extortion. He was released on $500,000 bond.
He is under house arrest, ordered to wear a GPS ankle bracelet, and forbidden from using a computer except for schoolwork, the FBI said. He’s due back in court on Nov. 4.
Wolf went public with her story shortly after capturing the Miss USA crown on Aug. 9.
The invasion began while she was still in high school.
Her social media accounts were hacked and, soon after, she received a frightening email accompanied by nude pictures of her in her bedroom.
The hacker told her he would post the private photos online unless she sent him more R-rate pics, a nude video and agreed to give him a private sex show via Skype for five minutes, the FBI said.
“Abrahams threatened to ‘transform [her] dream of being a model into a pornstar’ if [she] did not comply,” the FBI complaint said.
“I was terrified,” Wolf told the “Today” show last month.
“I started screaming, bawling my eyes out. I was on the phone with my mom, and I felt helpless because I wasn’t sure what to do.”
Wolf and her mother went to the FBI in March.
Agents raided Abraham’s home in June and discovered hacking software, as well as explicit images and videos of some of the victims.
In another case, the federal complaint said a 17-year-old girl from Ireland gave in and agreed to strip for the Abrahams via video chat.
She allegedly told Abrahams, “Please remember I’m only 17. Have a heart.”
Abrahams replied, “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!”
Abrahams faces up to two years in prison.
His family said he suffers from mental illness.
“The family wants to apologize for the consequences of his behavior to the families that were affected,” his lawyer, Alan Eisner, told reporters after the bust.
With News Wire Services
