A Winterville man decided to seek help from police recently after he was drawn into a scam that not only extorted him out of money, but he believes he became a “middle man” in the extortion of other victims.
The 22-year-old man filed a report on Jan. 6 after he believed his own extortion had evolved into helping the scammer torch other victims, according to an Athens-Clarke police report.
The man reported he became trapped in the extortion when he began communicating with a person on Instagram. The man provided a woman’s name, but the person’s true identity is unknown.
The con artist wanted a photo of the man’s sex organ, which he agreed to send, according to the report.
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That same evening, the woman began demanding money or she would send the explicit photo to all of his Instagram contacts. The man said he and the woman worked out a payment plan in which he would pay her $2,000 not to share the photo.
Later, the scam artist asked for the man’s Cash App account number and police said he provided the information. At that point, the scam artist began sending money to the man, which he was to send to other Cash App accounts.
The man reported he felt “like it was money from people being blackmailed over nude photos.” The man told police he felt like he had become a “unwilling middle man,” so he stopped sending the money.
The man reported he did lose $1,200 in the scheme.
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This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Winterville man extorted after he shares sexually explicit photo