Moroccan Sextortion Ring Targets Wealthy Social Media Influencers

Imprudent, many influential personalities with a large following on social media have fallen for the bait of a sextortion gang. The criminal gang operating from Morocco has managed to deceive the vigilance of more than one and has established a list of well-targeted victims, following well-defined criteria, reports the daily Assabah.

Being famous on social networks, especially on Instagram; being wealthy; these are two good criteria to be on the hunting ground of this gang, which operates under fake Instagram accounts with the names of young Lebanese girls and irresistible photos to back them up. They then contact their victims and introduce themselves as fans who want to have virtual sexual relations with them.

Many influencers have fallen into the trap. Over their heads, the threat of spreading their compromising photos on the web, if they do not pay the extortion money demanded by the scammers. Several victims have rushed to comply to avoid the scandal, according to the same source.

Given the ever-increasing number of victims, the scam is being denounced in public. Investigators are already at work to dismantle this network that has set up a special application dedicated to sextortion, and is known for its modus operandi, where laptops and smartphones equipped with hacked hard drives and other phone chips are used.

To recall, several sexual blackmail networks have recently been dismantled in Casablanca, Safi, Salé and Marrakech. They mainly target the very wealthy nationals of the Gulf countries.