U.S. Diplomat Charged with Sextortion
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 03/24/2016 10:50 AM
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Michael C. Ford, 36, of Atlanta, a former US State Department employee has been sentenced to 57 months in prison for “sextortion.”
Fords victims were both in the United States and abroad. He was convicted of perpetrating a widespread, international email phishing, computer hacking and cyberstalking scheme against hundreds of victims.
According to his plea document, Ford admitted that between January 2013 and May 2015, while employed by the U.S. Embassy in London, he used various aliases to target young females. His main targets seem to have been members of sororities and aspiring models.
Ford used a phishing scam in which he emailed his victims by the thousands and informed them that their accounts would be deleted if they did not provide their passwords. He then used the passwords to get into the victims email accounts and social media accounts where he looked for sexually explicit photographs and for victims’ personal identifying information (PII), including their home and work addresses, school and employment information, and names and contact information of family members, among other things.
Ford focused on 75 victims whom he then threatened to post the images unless the girls provided him with sexually explicit videos of “sexy girls” undressing in changing rooms at pools, gyms and clothing stores.
If a potential victim refused his advances, Ford escalated his threats. He would tell the victim that he didn't know their home address, but would follow it up with another email containing their address. He also threatened to release the images to an “escort/hooker website” along with her phone number and home address.
In December, Ford pleaded guilty to nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud in connection with his ongoing criminal scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said: “Michael Ford hacked hundreds of email accounts, particularly targeting young women so he could extort them into sending him sexually explicit images. He preyed on vulnerable victims, leaving them with indelible emotional scars. His sentence is a necessary step in holding him to account for his crimes and helping his victims move forward with their lives.”
Source: InfoSecurity
Fords victims were both in the United States and abroad. He was convicted of perpetrating a widespread, international email phishing, computer hacking and cyberstalking scheme against hundreds of victims.According to his plea document, Ford admitted that between January 2013 and May 2015, while employed by the U.S. Embassy in London, he used various aliases to target young females. His main targets seem to have been members of sororities and aspiring models.
Ford used a phishing scam in which he emailed his victims by the thousands and informed them that their accounts would be deleted if they did not provide their passwords. He then used the passwords to get into the victims email accounts and social media accounts where he looked for sexually explicit photographs and for victims’ personal identifying information (PII), including their home and work addresses, school and employment information, and names and contact information of family members, among other things.
Ford focused on 75 victims whom he then threatened to post the images unless the girls provided him with sexually explicit videos of “sexy girls” undressing in changing rooms at pools, gyms and clothing stores.
If a potential victim refused his advances, Ford escalated his threats. He would tell the victim that he didn't know their home address, but would follow it up with another email containing their address. He also threatened to release the images to an “escort/hooker website” along with her phone number and home address.
In December, Ford pleaded guilty to nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud in connection with his ongoing criminal scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said: “Michael Ford hacked hundreds of email accounts, particularly targeting young women so he could extort them into sending him sexually explicit images. He preyed on vulnerable victims, leaving them with indelible emotional scars. His sentence is a necessary step in holding him to account for his crimes and helping his victims move forward with their lives.”
Source: InfoSecurity
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