Posted By CotoBlogzz
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – According to the FBI, the investigation that uncovered a far-reaching sextortion scheme
by Michael
C. Ford, a U.S. State Department employee at the U.S. Embassy in London all
started with a single complaint by a young victim in Kentucky. She went to the
police.
“The victim basically was
saying that she was being cyberstalked by some guy who got into her e-mail and
was threatening to expose compromising photos of her to her friends and
family,” said FBI Special Agent Andrew Young, who interviewed some of the hundreds
of victims targeted by Michael C. Ford, a former State Department civilian
employee who was sentenced last month to nearly five years in prison for
hacking into the e-mail accounts of young women to extort them.
According to the facts of the
case, between January 2013 and May 2015, Ford—while working in London—posed as
a member of a large web company’s “account deletion team” and sent out e-mails
to thousands of women warning them that their e-mail accounts would be deleted
if they didn’t provide their passwords. Ford then used the passwords he
received to hack into victims’ e-mail and social media accounts to search for
nude and topless photos and personal information like contacts and addresses.
He hacked into at least 450
e-mail accounts and admitted e-mailing at least 75 women, threatening to
circulate their compromising pictures unless they sent him more.
Following the initial complaint
in Kentucky, local police reached out to the FBI in Louisville, where agents
traced the source of the e-mails to a State Department server in London. The
Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) began an internal probe that led to Ford and
uncovered the massive hacking, cyberstalking, and sextortion scheme. Young said
the investigation showed Ford spent the bulk of his time at work using a
government computer to “extort women, hack into their e-mail accounts, and
threaten them.”
The FBI’s primary role in the
investigation was interviewing victims across the U.S. to build a case. “They
were angry,” said Young, who worked the case out of the FBI’s Atlanta Field
Office, which had jurisdiction because Ford had Georgia residency.
At Ford’s March 21 sentencing,
prosecutors presented evidence of another scheme he started several years
earlier, in 2009. Posing as a talent scout, Ford combed through websites where
aspiring models posted their pictures and contact information. He duped young
women into sending personal information, including their measurements and dates
of birth. “He would send them an e-mail with a link, and when they clicked on
the link he got access to their computer and e-mail accounts,” Young said.
Ford, 36, of Atlanta, was
indicted August 18, 2015 following his arrest by DSS during a visit to Atlanta.
He pled guilty in December.
His plea was due in large part
to the voluminous evidence against him, including the statements of victims
like the one who came forward in Kentucky.
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State Department employee, Michael C. Ford sentenced for international cyberattacks, including sextortion
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA -Michael C. Ford, 36, of Atlanta, a former U.S. State Department employee, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross of the Northern District of Georgia to 57 months in prison according to announcement by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John A. Horn of the Northern District of Georgia, Director Bill A. Miller of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office.
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Posted By CotoBlogzz Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Amy Hess , FBI's Executive Assistant Director, Science and Technology Branch ...
Irvine High School Teacher Charged with Sexting
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Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Dominic John Augustus Witter, high school teacher was charged today for texting to a 15-year-old female student and arranging to meet her for sex.
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA - Dominic John Augustus Witter, high school teacher was charged today for texting to a 15-year-old female student and arranging to meet her for sex.
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