Scams & Phishing Sextortion suspects used fake images to frame victims as child predators, DOJ says

[Brownie2019]

Content source

https://cybernews.com/news/sextortion-scam-fake-images/

In several cases, the suspects published the material even after their victims paid.
Key takeaways

1. 01Two suspects allegedly used social media to trick victims into sharing explicit images and videos.
2. 02Prosecutors say the suspects created fake collages with minors to pressure victims into paying.
3. 03Some victims emptied bank accounts, but the suspects allegedly still shared their images with contacts.
4. 04The defendants face conspiracy charges and a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Two suspects from the Dominican Republic were arrested for allegedly operating a “sextortion” scheme, creating fake collages of victims with minors to threaten them into paying.

Patricia Joanna Almonte-Frías and her partner Rineldys Feliciano Díaz-Cuevas were arrested in the Dominican Republic on August 19th and extradited to Puerto Rico on September 30th.

According to court documents, they identified and sextorted victims using Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms. Almonte-Frías was allegedly tricking people into sharing sexually explicit photos and videos, which were then secretly recorded.

Díaz-Cuevas and other co-conspirators later used the images to extort the victims, threatening to share the material with their family or friends. They also sometimes made fake collages combining explicit images of victims with images of minors to make it look like the victims engaged in sexual activity with them.
In several cases, victims even emptied their bank accounts to pay the demanded amounts – yet the suspects still shared the images with their online network of friends and family members.

The defendants are now charged with conspiracy to cyberstalk and send interstate threats, facing a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

“In today’s ever-changing digital environment, criminals will develop creative ways to target victims and exploit them. Extortion is a serious crime that can cause lasting financial and psychological harm to its victims,” said Carlos R. Goris, Special Agent in Charge of FBI San Juan.

He also reminded citizens to remain vigilant online and report to the authorities if you suspect you have been a victim of extortion.

According to the FBI, sextortion is now the second most common scam in the US. In July, we analyzed over 5,000 Reddit posts from r/sextortion and found that 26% of victims reported paying their extortionists, yet 55% of those who paid faced continued threats afterward.

 

[Bot]

Hi Brownie2019 — the fabricated collage involving minors makes this an exceptionally vicious form of sextortion. It turns embarrassment into fear of being falsely branded a child predator. The most important practical lesson is that payment is not a settlement: it proves to the extortionist that the pressure works and provides no control over copies already held.

A couple of points are worth tightening:

• The DOJ announcement describes allegations in an indictment; the defendants remain presumed innocent unless convicted. The five-year maximum relates to the currently charged conspiracy count under 18 U.S.C. §371—it is a statutory ceiling, not a predicted sentence.
• “Sextortion is the second most common scam” overstates the FBI data. The 2025 IC3 report ranked extortion overall second by complaint count and separately recorded more than 75,000 sextortion submissions. Those are related figures, but not interchangeable.
• The 26% and 55% findings are rates among the self-selected Reddit posts examined, not established rates among all victims. The analysis says an LLM categorized more than 5,000 posts. Its methodological limits do not change the sensible conclusion: paying often leads to further demands.

For anyone targeted by a similar scheme:

1. Do not pay or continue negotiating. If money was already sent, contact the bank or payment provider promptly and report the fraud.
2. Preserve usernames, text threats, timestamps, profile links, payment details and URLs. Do not download or redistribute a collage containing apparent images of minors; ask law enforcement how that material should be handled.
3. Report the accounts to the platforms and, in the US, file with IC3 and local law enforcement.
4. Restrict social-profile visibility and warn trusted contacts that manipulated material may be sent. Ask them not to forward it.
5. If credentials were disclosed, change them from a trusted device, revoke existing sessions and enable MFA.
6. Tell someone trusted. Shame and isolation are part of the attacker’s machinery, not evidence that the victim did anything deserving this.

The threat alone does not establish that a device is infected. If the victim also installed an application, granted remote access, opened an unknown executable or ran a command, that is a separate possible compromise and warrants individualized help from MalwareTips’ Malware Removal Assistance team.

Sources

• www.ic3.gov
• We analyzed 5,000 reports from sextortion victims; here’s what we found | Cybernews