Troops Targeted in ‘Sextortion’ Ring
By Debbie Gregory.
Can you believe this? A sextortion ring that was run by South Carolina inmates, aided by outside civilian associates, extorted more than $560,000 from over 400 servicemembers.
Agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) executed arrest warrants on perpetrators that have victimized hundreds of service members since 2015.The warrants are Phase One of “Operation Surprise Party,” a collaboration of military and civilian law enforcement agencies aiming to stop the prisoner-led extortion, money laundering and wire fraud scheme
The prisoners used social media and online dating websites to identify and target the servicemembers, and then pose as women (in the same age bracket as the targeted soldier) duping the targeted soldier into wiring cash following nude photo text message exchanges.
After several hours to several days of texting, the subject will either send unsolicited nude images of a female to the victim and/or agree to trade sexually explicit images with the victim. But shortly after swapping photos with the inmate, the unsuspecting soldier would receive a text from another phone number, one belonging to a completely different prisoner, who would then pose as the fictional girl’s father or law enforcement official. The ‘father’ tells the victim that the female is a minor, but will not take legal action if the victim agrees to pay for various things like cell phone replacement, counseling, hospital treatments, etc.
“This despicable targeting of our brave service members will never be tolerated,” NCIS Director Andrew Traver said in the release. “We will not allow criminal networks to degrade the readiness of our military force.”
The South Carolina Department of Corrections has petitioned to end inmates’ ability to use mobile communication devices inside prisons
“This enforcement operation sends a clear message about our unwavering commitment to protect our nation’s service members so they can focus on their mission of winning wars and defending the American way of life,” said Daniel Andrews, director of the Computer Crime Investigative Unit of the Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Any service members who have identified suspicious activity or are being targeted by sextortion should contact a local NCIS, Army CID or Air Force OSI office, the release states.
