Stalking Via Your Own Cellphone!

(slightly off-topic but important information! EOPC)

Woman's Ex-Boyfriend Stalked Her for Years Using Software on Her Cell Phone

By LISA FLETCHER and COLE KAZDIN

Technology makes it easier to connect with the people in your life, but it can also enable others to connect to you without your knowledge.

People can learn all about your private life through your cell phone, and one woman said she was stalked for three years because of it. Susan, who asked that her real name be kept private because of worry over her safety, said her ex-boyfriend tormented her using only her cell phone to do it.

"He knew where I was all the time," Susan said. "If I was at dinner somewhere. He would text me and ask me how dinner was. I had no idea how he knew where I was."

Most people know that the GPS in a cell phone can track your every move, but that's just the beginning. Widely available software that can be installed on almost any cell phone can track not just your whereabouts but also your private conversations and personal information.

"I thought I was going crazy," Susan said. "It's just unnerving knowing that somebody 24/7 knows where you're at, what you're talking about, what's going on, everything about you."

At the time, Susan didn't know that her ex-boyfriend installed spying software on her phone when she wasn't looking. Once installed, he could be anywhere -- even in a different state -- and follow her every move.

But what was worse, it didn't just track her whereabouts. He could listen in on her phone calls, read her text messages and turn her personal cell phone into a bugging device. From anywhere, he could activate her speaker phone and listen to everything she was doing.

"He would text me, 'How was dinner? Was the date good?'" she recalled.

Susan's ex-boyfriend would also show up places where she was. She feared for her life and called the police, who put her in protective custody. When her ex-boyfriend violated the restraining order, he was put in jail on felony stalking charges.

"He had every intention of killing me," she said. "Within 20 minutes of getting out of jail, he was outside my hotel room."

Security expert Robert Siciliano says he gets countless e-mails from victims of cell phone spying.

"When somebody remotely activates your phone, you're not going to know it and they can use that phone to monitor the conversations in the room you're in," he said. "Your phone could be sitting next to you while you are watching TV, and somebody can actually log into your phone and can actually watch what you are watching on television."

Cell Phone Spying Software Affordable, Powerful
A 2009 report from the Department of Justice found that one-quarter of the 3.4 million stalking victims in the U.S. reported cyberstalking, and GPS technology and other forms of electronic monitoring were used to stalk one in 13 victims.

"GMA" found thousands of sites promoting cell phone spying software, boasting products to "catch cheating spouses," "bug meeting rooms" or "track your kids." Basic cell phone spying software costs as little as $50, but for a higher price the software enables anyone to do exactly what Susan's ex-boyfriend did.

"Someone can easily install a spyware program on your phone that allows them to see every single thing you do all day long, via the phone's video camera," Siciliano said.

"GMA" spent $350 to get the features that remotely activate speaker phones, intercept live calls and instantly notify you every time a call is made.

We installed the software on a colleague's phone, with her permission, and sent her out to see how it worked. We were able to intercept and listen in to a live phone call without her knowledge, and she didn't even have to be on the phone for us to spy on her. We could also turn her phone into a remote listening device no matter where she was. If the phone was on, we heard everything she said.

"This is no sci-fi flick," Siciliano said. "This is the real thing and it's happening to people right now."

It's perfectly legal to sell the software but not necessarily legal to use it, although that's in the fine print.

For people like Susan, the laws, which vary from state to state, haven't caught up to the technology. Police say there aren't specific laws on the books to address this type of stalking, as opposed to the physical stalking that led to the restraining order.

When it comes to cell phone spying, "The cops kept telling me there's nothing we can do," Susan said. "He's not breaking the law."

Protect Yourself from Cell Phone Spying
Susan changed her number 10 times, but it didn't help because the spyware was on the phone itself.

"I'd go and change my number at the cell phone store, and he would be calling me on my way home on my new cell phone number."

After three terrifying years, Susan realized the software was on her phone. She got a new one and it seems the nightmare has ended.

"You're never the same after this," she said. "I think you become a lot more aware of your surroundings, you're not as trusting. You just make it day to day and keep living."

Safety experts say that if you believe you've been the target of cyberstalking, trust your instincts and ask for help.

Indications that spyware might be on your cell phone:

• The screen lights up for no reason
• The flash on the camera goes off when you're not taking a picture
• You notice ambient noise in the background when you're on a phone call
• You repeatedly get strange text messages from an unknown origin

Tips:
Never let your cell phone out of your control -- spyware can be installed on it in as little as a few minutes.

If you think spyware is on your phone, security expert Robert Siciliano says you have two options: Get a a new phone or call your cell phone service provider. They will tell you how to reinstall the operating system. Reinstalling the operating system should wipe out the spyware.

original article here

Man Arrested for Spam Threat

by Bruce Golding

Maybe he thought their slogan changed from the company you keep to the company you cheat.

A broke former New York Life employee was busted on charges he tried to extort $200,000 from the insurance firm by threatening to smear it with a spam attack of 6 million e-mails, the feds announced yesterday.

Anthony Digati, 52, allegedly vowed to use a "spam service" and his skills as a "huge social networker" to drag the company "through the muddiest waters imaginable."

The Chino, Calif., man also told his ex-employer that the price would go to $3 million if it failed to pay up by yesterday, according to a Manhattan federal court complaint.

Digati, who was declared bankrupt last year with more than $1.2 million in debts, allegedly targeted the company after becoming "dissatisfied" with the performance of his own universal life-insurance policy.

original article here

Facebook gives Murderer 'Motive'

A woman was stabbed repeatedly by her ex-lover after he saw a picture of her with her new boyfriend on Facebook.

Paul Bristol, 25, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Camille Mathurasingh, 27, at her east London home in April 2009.

The IT technician, who lived in Trinidad and Tobago, flew to London within two weeks of seeing the picture and killed the accountant.

Bristol, who denied murder, is expected to be sentenced later this month.

The court heard he could not accept "it was over" and had come to "win" his girlfriend back.

Bristol, who worked for the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Administration, and Miss Mathurasingh met during the three years she worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

'He looked evil'
After her return to London in 2008 their relationship continued through emails and telephone calls, but last year she began having doubts about their future and decided to go out with her new boyfriend.

Simon Denison QC, prosecuting, said: "It would appear she tried to bring about the end of her relationship with this defendant gently and did not tell him about her new boyfriend.

"He found out when he saw pictures of them together on Facebook.

"He would say he could not accept it was over and he decided to come here to see if he could win her back."

The day before her murder, she told her sister Nadine that she had to flee her home as Bristol had arrived from Trinidad, but she saw him following her.

Nadine said of the conversation: "She said she looked into her rear-view mirror. She said he looked evil."

Metropolitan Police said they caught Bristol when he fled on foot after a collision between his car and a black cab in east London.

When stopped he had blood over his face and clothes and admitted killing his girlfriend. He claimed he committed manslaughter through provocation.

Following the verdict, the victim's mother Indra Mathurasingh said: "Justice has been served for Camille. She was snatched from us and we are empty without her."

original article here

Online revenge sites latest landmine in modern dating game

Online revenge sites latest landmine in modern dating game

Bad dates beware — all your misdeeds and misbehaviour are a click away for all to see.

If you have dumped someone unceremoniously, cheated, lied or otherwise been a sleaze or a stalker, read all about it on the Internet.

Posting dating and mating horror stories of wrongdoing is the latest way to exact revenge on exes in the modern dating game.

A website owned by two entrepreneurs was the latest venue to out bad boys and girls.

The site includes stories written by the jilted about their lovers’ wrongdoings and, in many cases, the photos and full names of the so-called players and psychos and their tales of torment.

The stories are nasty.

People are called out as promiscuous, as sexually-transmitted-infection spreaders, drug addicts, cheaters, deadbeat dads, con artists, broke bums, prostitutes, sleazebags, dirtbags, all manner of bags, cyberpaths or e-whores. (The latter two are newish terms — serial online daters who prey on the vulnerable via Lava Life, match.com, or plentyoffish.com, to name just three online dating sites.)

At these sites anyone can post a story with photos about someone they’ve loved, lusted and lost.

"It seems to me that the good outweighs the bad," says site co-owner.

Memberships are free, and so far 410 people from across Canada and the United States have signed up since May, when the site was launched. Both owners claim it’s getting 300,000 hits a day.
Those who post must sign an online agreement, vowing they will only post information that is true. Gordon admits they have no way of knowing if the 100 and counting posts are 100 per cent accurate.

"It would be great if there weren’t any jerks who abused our site but if there weren’t any jerks, there would be no need for our site," he says. "It’s a Catch-22."

However, these sites have the potential to do a lot of good helping singles find out about a bad date’s past.

Think of it as a high-tech way to weed out the weasels.

Stoptheact joins other revenge sites for the unlucky in love. At dontdatehimgirl.com and Liarscheatsandbastards, retaliation is also the special of the day.

Consider this e-scorning just one of the many perils of dating. No longer are your (alleged) misdeeds fodder for circles of friends and co-workers in the immediate vicinity. Instead, your questionable antics, true or otherwise, are posted for the world to see.

On some sites those who are outed can retort, right on the same page. Others can chime in, too — which they do, in droves.

Additionally, some posters have recently found their IP addresses and emails 'spoofed' so people who may have nothing to do with the posts are wrongly held responsible. This has created a real problem for the courts to track down who really posted what..

All of which makes for a weird, yet mildly entertaining back-and-forth read and, ultimately, compelling insight into contemporary dating.

One wonders how all this nastiness advances humanity in any way. I mean, how much name-calling and "he said, she said" can anyone take?

And what are the long-term consequences of all this kissing and e-telling?

Imagine, for example, an employer googling their prospective hire’s name and up pops "deadbeat dad with herpes," or "gold-digging whore."

It wouldn’t be pretty. Misdeeds may last one, maybe two minutes tops, but an e-trail is forever.

On the one hand, it can genuinely be a service. On the other, when you’re in a breakup and you’ve been hurt and wronged, you may lash out and regret it soon after, says the Toronto-based writer. And if you post something nasty, be prepared to be posted on yourself and expect the story to be worse, she warns.

"It’s a two-way street. It’s a very dangerous game."

Consider the story of Todd Hollis. Very unflattering stories about the Pittsburgh criminal lawyer were posted on dontdatehimgirl.com he claims were defamatory, according to a story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. So three years ago, Hollis, then 38, filed a lawsuit against the site’s owner and operator, Tasha Joseph, then 33, a former Miami Herald columnist who started the site. (Hollis has also started his own website to fight back, classaction-dontdatehimgirl.com.) (Hollis' site is now defunct and his lawsuit was dismissed by the courts!)

original from Calgary Herald

(NOTE: EOPC is NOT a revenge site. It is an informational and educational site providing information, validation (important since all cyberpaths INSIST their victim is lying when they are caught) and hopefully a small bit of closure for those abused by cyberpaths. - THE TRUTH IS A 100% LEGAL DEFENSE TO CLAIMS OF DEFAMATION OR SLANDER - All our posters are legally liable for EVERYTHING POSTED as per their agreement; about their cyberpath. EOPC

Ensnared: Internet Creates New Group of Sexual Addicts

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Facebook Hijacker Charged with Coercion & Harassment

by Amanda Melillo & Kirsten Fleming

A Queens man took his girlfriend's Facebook account hostage, changed her sexual preference to gay, and demanded cash for her profile's safe return, authorities said yesterday.

But Paul Franco's bizarre manipulations backfired when his stunned gal pal went to cops and had him arrested on Feb. 10 on charges of coercion and harassment, according to a spokeswoman for DA Richard Brown.

"My family convinced me to go to police," said Jessica Zamora-Anderson, a native of Guatemala. "Half the people in my country have heard about this. It's destroyed my life."

Ironically, Franco, 38 and his ex-girlfriend Zamora-Anderson, 30 met on Facebook in November 2008, when he posed as a 29-year-old English teacher from Queens College, where Zamora-Anderson blogged about taking classes, she said.

And the rocky relationship ended more than a year later on Facebook, as Franco's true identity and violent temper began to shine through, she said.

The Internet courtship started to sour in November 2009, when Franco, a musician, threw a phone at Zamora-Anderson's head, causing swelling and bruising, according to court papers.

But she stood by her man, especially after he claimed to have taped her during steamy sex sessions, the complaint says.

On Jan. 30, Franco's car was towed because it was illegally parked near Zamora-Anderson's Kew Gardens apartment.

He allegedly demanded $185 from his girlfriend to get it from the impound lot, or else.

Fearful that Franco would make the sex tape public, she forked over the cash and demanded he never contact her again, Zamora-Anderson said.

But she realized on Feb. 2 that the password to her Facebook account had been changed.

"He changed all of my personal information and said I was interested in women. I got a lot of requests for relationships with women -- and he was the one accepting them," said the housekeeper.

Zamora-Anderson said Franco was also spamming her family and friends and changing her preferences.

She hit the negotiating table two days later, asking what she needed to do to get her password back.

"I got worried that he wasn't going to stop," she said. "He was imitating me on Facebook and everyone believed it was me."

"Pay what you owe," Franco allegedly told her. He demanded an additional $390 for the inconvenience of having his car locked up, cops said.

She then went to police, and charged that he had beaten her throughout the relationship.

Franco did not return a call for comment.

original article here

Revenge -- Campaign of Hatred

When Elvis Kovacic discovered his girlfriend was still friends with a former boyfriend he had never met, the 30-year-old accountant set out to destroy the man's reputation in an anonymous hate campaign of phone threats, pamphlet letterbox drops and emails.

His target, Richard Gazzard, was a happily engaged co-director of Prestige Auto Traders in Rozelle. Kovacic falsely accused him of being a rapist and local police of covering up the crime.

The extraordinary tale of one man's blind jealousy was detailed by police when Kovacic stood trial in Central Local Court.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brad Scanlan told the magistrate, Gail Madgwick, that Kovacic, of Chiswick, could not handle the thought his now former girlfriend, Meje Tran, had kept in touch with Gazzard, who she had once dated.

Kovacic waged his hate campaign between 2004 and early 2006, distributing pamphlets with Mr Gazzard's photo under the heading "Buyer Beware" to letterboxes in the inner west.

His campaign came unstuck in an investigation that involved police retracing phone records and internet sites to Kovacic's home and work computers.

Kovacic pleaded not guilty to the charges, for which he faces up to five years' jail and fines of up to $5,500. But last Thursday Ms Madgwick found Kovacic guilty of two charges: using a carriage service to menace, harass and offend, and stalking with intent to cause fear, physical and mental harm.

In evidence at his trial last April, Sergeant Scanlan said the hate campaign began in April 2004, when Mr Gazzard received two anonymous calls from a man that were later traced to the home of Kovacic's father.

The caller told Mr Gazzard "you are f---ing dead. I know where you live" and later "I know where you work". By the end of the year, Kovacic had produced the first of three pamphlets.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Woman Fears for Her Life due to Cyberstalker

by Angela Sachitano

FLORIDA resident Deborah Riley hasn't been able to find a job in months. Google her name and she understands why.

Log on to deborahkayriley.com and a website dedicated completely to trashing her repuation appears.

Comments like 'she is on cocaine and crystal meth' and 'sleeps with anyone on the first date.'

This is only a small part of what Riley's ex boyfriend, Alex Dimusto, is accused of writing on the site he created.

"I feel violated and hopeless," Riley said. "It seems like there is nothing in place to protect the victim."

Riley says Dimusto purchased her name and other similar domains like it a few weeks after she broke up with him in January.

She says he has continued to fill the pages with lies.

"I wrote to web.com and they sent me to the abuse team," Riley said. "They told me I had to get a court order."

Riley has gone to the courts to get the website taken down and is currently waiting on a hearing, which could take another week.

In the meantime, we got in touch with Dimusto over the phone today.

When asked if he created the site, Dimusto answered, "I did not but I might know someone who did."

But according to godaddy.com, Dimusto is in fact the owner of the domain 'deborahkaeyriley.com.'

We also talked with a lawyer, who says Riley could have a strong libel case on her hands.

"This could be actionable," said attorney Barry Balmuth.

Riley says she not only fears for her reputation, she fears for her life. She says she only dated Dimusto for two months and wonders how far he will go to ruin her.

"He has told me he is going to put me in a dark place where no one can find me," she said.

According to Balmuth, here is what it takes to prove libel on the web - or anywhere for that matter:

Statement of fact - such as "She's a drug addict." Not a stated opinion, such as "I don't like her."
Has to be proven false.
Statement made carelessly or intentionally.
Damage to reputation.

original article here

How To Seduce Women Online

Excerpted from just ONE of hundreds of sites that tells Potential Internet Predators HOW TO DO IT!! (try not to throw up!) - EOPC

"When it comes to seducing women online, there are some different strategies that every guy must take not only to get her to fork up the nickname but also to get her to come to your place, or even a date.

"There are tons of dating sites to meet women online so we wont even get into that. If you really were born in the stone age and don't know, you shouldn't be online. Every single one is a potential f*ck mate. I was walking in the mall with a friend of mine while I was in Atlanta, GA last May and I found it so interesting, just noticing how most of the women we see walking by and encounter as we go, seem to be "looking", flirting for the next potential guy to get with.

"Don't forget, even if she's with someone, she still longs for SOMETHING. We all long for SOMETHING.There is something she need and want that she's not getting. YOU must be that person to give it to her, or at least make her believe its ultimately possible. Its so amazing when you can just think, and imagine the very real potential that any one of those broads can be in laying in your bed tonight! Powerful! This is how you have to think when you talk to women, even on the phone.

Telephone disadvantages: For one, you don't know if shes a fat, ugly pig that just has a sexy voice. Some of the sexiest voices I ever heard are from some of those chunky over-weight women, who by the way, are just itching to get laid. So be careful. You might think your game and strategy is what hooked her but if shes as big as a cow, she was easy anyway.

The second disadvantage is you might end up captivating and hooking an ugly duckling. This one has the same insecurities as the fat pig, although she might not be as desperate. From what I have seen, guys are more likely to forgive overlook an ugly face, provided the body is easy on the eyes. And thirdly, most of the tricks, like touching, implanted thoughts, mirroring, piercing eye contact is reduced to zero, although you can use these later when you meet together.

Online seduction: is much like telephone seduction. The difference is, you have to be skillful at writing so that the words she reads gives her the same deep intense feeling she would get from hearing your voice. Luckily, the words you inject in your sentences are the same ones you would use for your telephone seduction.

Phrases like:
intense feeling,
deep inside,
highest peak,
come inside,
more and more,
warm all over,
talk together,
really look forward to,
feel loved,
get excited,
excitement and anticipation,
see yourself,
so sexual,
desires you feel

...are phrases you MUST add to your argument so as to get their juices flowing. They have to be able to see and hear and feel what you are saying while they're reading it. So for instance if you're describing how good a massage feels, you would begin to describe the scenery.... laying on the beach in south florida, the cool gentle breeze lightly ruffling your sexy silky hair. You can see the sun as it disappears behind the ocean. Imagine how good that feels NOW as you begin think about it.... as the warm oil touches your welcoming body think of how its warm slitherly feel just massages you and penetrates and relaxes you deep inside etc etc.

Now how do you tell if shes a fat pig or an ugly duckling? If you met her online, the obvious answer is to ask for a picture, however, keep in mind that she might ask for yours too. So if you're not the best looking guy in the world you might want to keep this in mind. You might not have to be concerned too much if you have already conquered her mind and showed her your value. If she believes you're the best thing that came along since slice bread, it wont matter how ugly you are.

What I recommend is to delve into her insecurities by your questions so as to determine if one of those is her weight or her looks. You might ask her questions like "so when you go to the beach (presup) do you find that its very exciting or is it kinda boring?" That way, if she says she hates going to the beach, you know she's fat and/or ugly and is ashamed of showing anyone her body. To be absolutely sure you might also make a joke about her in the bathroom. Pre-suppose that shes hot and sexy and also that shes cocky and conceited about it. (All you're doing is using reverse psychology). So how do you do it? You say to her "Hmmmm you're probably so conceited (jokingly) I can just imagine you coming out of the shower, and standing in front of the mirror saying (imitate a woman's voice) "Damn I look good! Look at my butt, I'm gonna make those guys drool tonight". If her response is to laugh it off and say shes not conceited, she will tell you how she looks, just to defend herself.

If she's fat and ugly she will do the same thing but do it in a serious way, or even try to get you to not get your hopes up high. She might even try to change the subject. If you even get a hunch that shes fat, she probably is. At that point I just ask her outright and get measurements.

She Tricks You: So you arrange to meet this PREY at say, Barnes & Noble, the mall or wherever. You're expecting to see a nice, sexy petite eye-candy type you can feast your eyes on, and guess what - she tricked you. She shows up on time, all 250 pounds of her, wobbling and smiling as if to say, here I am baby....TAKE ME NOW! What do you do? Dont run away like a distraught little girl who was just told shes ugly. You're a gentleman, go out and meet with her. After saying your hello's this is what you say to her: "You lied to me about your weight, that means you're a liar. If you're a liar that means you're also a thief. I cant be with someone who is a liar and a thief!" Then turn, get into your car and drive the hell away from her. If the issue is that shes an ugly ducklin, you have to prepare your exit a bit different. If you were to meet at say 6pm, call your buddy and ask him to call you at like 6:30pm. That way if she's unbearably too ugly to look at you can just tell her "I have an emergency, I have to go!"

See ya! :) Happy seducing guys.

from: http://www.seducenow.com/telephone_love.html

(THIS IS GENTLEMANLY? THIS IS HONESTY? THIS IS SOMEONE WHO WANTS A REAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A REAL PERSON? DON'T THINK SO! it's SICK SICK SICK! and By the way, FEMALE Online Predators do this same stuff!! - EOPC)

'Rob me' Site = Dangers of Social Networking

By Zoe Kleinman

A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online.

The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet.

The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person's location in the real world.

PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter.

"It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts," said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe's developers.

"People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend's or friend's house, and sharing the address - I don't think they were aware of how much they were sharing."

Mr Van Amstel, Frank Groeneveld and Barry Borsboom realised that not only were people sharing detailed location information about themselves and their friends, they were also by default broadcasting when they were away from their own home.

Simple search
The website took just four hours to create.

"It's basically a Twitter search - nothing new," said Mr Van Amstel. "Anyone who can do HTML and Javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is."

He said that the site would remain live but stressed it was not created to encourage crime.

"The website is not a tool for burglary," he said. "The point we're getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We've gone past that point by 1,000 miles."

Mr Van Amstel added that in practice it would be "very difficult" to use the information on the website to carry out a burglary.

Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet.

"We urge users of Twitter, Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft," said a spokesperson.

"Details posted online are available for the world to see; you wouldn't hang a sign on your door saying you're out, so why would you post it online?"

original article here

Florida Woman Charged with Cyberstalking

A 32-year-old Brevard County woman is accused of cyber stalking after police said she used Facebook to make threats against another woman, according to Florida Today.

Sylvia Jennifer Hernandez of Melbourne also is accused of violating an injunction, the Web site said.

Florida Today is reporting the alleged victim was granted a court injunction against Hernandez in December.

The woman told police Sunday that Hernandez recently contacted her and she had a number of unspecified threats on her Facebook page.

Cyber-Scammer Causes Suicide

Divorcee kills himself after falling for £82,000 (~$128,000. U.S.) internet dating con

By Chris Brooke

When lonely divorcee Philip Hunt fell for a beautiful woman on an internet dating site he thought all his prayers had been answered.

She convinced him she was young, fabulously rich and if he could help transfer $2.9million from Nigeria to the UK then they could start a new life together, an inquest heard today.

Unfortunately it was all an elaborate scam that would cost Mr Hunt £82,000 and ultimately his life.

The 58-year-old was hooked on the fantasy of a future with the stunning 'Rose' and he willingly paid out tens of thousands of pounds to help her beat malaria and get her funds through customs and into the UK.

The cargo officer remortgaged his house, took out loans, ran up overdrafts and begged for cash from his employers after repeatedly transferring money across to the fraudsters' account.

Eventually he became so hopelessly mired in debt that he committed suicide by lying down in front of a train.

Although warned by a former girlfriend that he was the victim of a 'scam', Mr Hunt appeared to believe in Rose until the very end.

His mobile phone was found in a rucksack near his body and a text message to Rose - which was never sent - read: 'I'm cold, lonely and depressed, I'm so lonely without you tonight. Going to meet my maker..'

Twice-married Mr Hunt went online in search of love after splitting up with girlfriend of three years Lesley Smith.

He began exchanging texts and emails with Rose, who claimed to be living in Nigeria. She sent him a picture of herself and he quickly fell in love with the attractive white brunette.

Over the months that followed Mr Hunt was tricked into thinking Rose was seriously ill and in desperate need of his help. The prize was the rest of his life with her and her cash.

Each time he came close to arranging a meeting with 'Rose' the anonymous criminals behind the 'romance scam' demanded further cash for hotels, medical bills and travel expenses to the UK.

He even travelled to London to meet two of the fraudsters who claimed they needed money for an expensive solution which would magically turn scrap paper into $100 bills.

Mr Hunt met two 'agents' at the Travelodge near London's City Airport. He was greeted by two large men who opened a case containing scraps of black and grey paper.

One of the men then sprayed a note with a mystery substance which seemed to turn the filthy paper into a $100 in front of his eyes - convincing him to hand over more money to pay for the chemical spray.

Mr Hunt began wiring over money in December 2008. At one stage he asked to borrow £25,000 from his employer, a shipping company at Immingham Docks, but later retracted the request and resigned from his job.

His last contact with the fraudsters was in June last year and he died on August 13 when he was hit by a train and suffered multiple injuries.

Police investigating his death found a handwritten note at his home in Grimsby addressed to them, which read: 'I just can't take it any more.' They also found bundles of emails outlining the huge scale of the fraud and a message predicting his own suicide. He wrote: 'I have insurmountable debts and will take my own life.'

A jury at the inquest in Hull returned a verdict of suicide.

After the hearing former girlfriend Miss Smith said: 'These people are out to get people when they are very vulnerable, they are like vultures. I'd like to alert people to this so they can be aware and be cautious.

'Philip was a quiet and reserved gentleman, and he was very intelligent which makes it all the more unbelievable that he fell for this, but he was at a low ebb and they got him when he was most vulnerable.'

Detective Chief Inspector Danny Snee, of British Transport Police, said: 'People need to be very wary, if something looks too good to be true it usually is. They should be particularly wary about parting with money with someone they have never met, it just doesn't ring true.

'The demands for money for supposed medical bills, hotel bills and travel expenses were endless.'

He said a criminal investigation into the international fraudsters was ongoing, although no arrests have been made.

original article here

Man Who Listed Ex in Sex Ads Gets Harassment Charges

(United Kingdom) FUMING Kath Thompson was plagued by strangers wanting sex after her ex-lover advertised her on a website for hookers.

More than a hundred punters bombarded her with "particularly salacious sexual" calls and texts, a court heard.

Dumped Nigel Hadley, 55, also spread tacks on the driveway of the 51-year-old - who was forced to change her phone numbers.

The jobless salesman, of Tiverton, Devon, was nicked - and admitted harassment.

Exeter JPs adjourned sentence for reports.

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Facebook em'!

By DAREH GREGORIAN

More people are cheating on their spouses using Facebook -- and more divorce lawyers are returning to the scene of the crime for evidence.

A whopping 81 percent of matrimonial lawyers say that in the past five years they've seen a massive spike in the use of social-networking information as evidence of infidelity, a new poll shows.

The most widely used cyber-evidence -- including messages to lovers and incriminating photos -- is found on Facebook, the survey from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reveals.

"Every client I've seen in the last six months had a Facebook page," said the group's vice-president, Ken Altshuler, "and the first piece of advice I give them is to terminate their page immediately."

Sixty-six percent of those surveyed said they'd used Facebook postings as evidence, with 15 percent from MySpace and 5 percent from Twitter.

Altshuler said he's had three cases in the past six months where Facebook postings were a key piece of evidence.

In one case, he was representing a woman getting divorced from her alcoholic husband and also seeking custody of their kids. The man had told the judge he had found God and hadn't had a drink in months.

"It was all the stuff you're supposed to say," Altshuler said.

The claim was exposed as bogus thanks to Facebook pictures of the man partying at a friend's house three weeks before the court hearing.

"The friend had a picture of him holding a beer in each hand with a joint in his mouth," Altshuler said, leading the judge to question the man's credibility.

"If you have your picture taken, you never know where it's going to wind up," Altshuler said.

He also cited another recent custody case where his client's ex-wife had claimed she was engaged and set to be married in a bid to show how stable her household was.

That was called into question by the woman's Facebook posting where she wrote "she'd broken up with her abusive boyfriend and that if anybody had a rich friend to let her know," Altshuler said.

He said the posting was given to his client by a friend of the ex-husband who was still Facebook friends with the ex-wife.

"People don't think about who has access to their Facebook page," Altshuler said, and faux Facebook friends will usually sell out a true pal's spouse.

"It's often the third party who's the source of information," he said.

"Don't do anything because you don't know who's looking. A good attorney can have a field day with this information."

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Arrested for Cyberstalking

BOULDER, Colorado -- Boulder police have arrested a 37-year-old man and accused him of cyber-stalking his ex-girlfriend by breaking into her apartment, installing listening devices and placing spyware on her computer, police said Monday.

Christopher Spiewak also is accused of sending the woman threatening e-mails, police said.

Spiewak was arrested Friday and booked on charges of domestic-violence related stalking, second-degree burglary, computer crimes and repeated harassment, police said.

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Husband's online revenge nipped in the bud

Celebrity adulterers have human rights too

A wronged husband bent on revenge who threatened to reveal the identity of his wife's celebrity lover on the internet has been barred from doing so. An interim injunction has been served on human rights grounds.

In a case which could have serious repercussions for online and offline media law the High Court has ruled that the wife of the celebrity adulterer should be protected from the publication of the details of the affair.

The identities of all parties have been kept secret. The husband was referred to as AB, the celebrity adulterer, believed to be a figure from the world of sport, as CC.

Justice Eady ruled that the privacy rights of CC's wife under the European Convention of Human Rights would be infringed by AB's revelations about their affair.

"In personal and sexual relationships the courts have for some time recognised that there is what is now generally referred to as a reasonable or legitimate 'expectation of privacy'," said Eady in his ruling.

The case involved a balancing of competing EHCR rights, said Eady: that of CC's wife to privacy and that of AB to freedom of expression. Eady said that he had to make sure that his judgments were free of personal moral bias.

"It is not for judges when applying the European Convention, which is a secular code applying to those of all religions and none, to give an appearance of sanctimony by damning adulterers or seeking, as I was invited to do by Mr Bartley Jones, to 'vindicate' the state of matrimony," he said.

In assessing the free speech rights of AB, Eady said that not all speech was of equal value and due equal protection. "The communication of material to the world at large in which there is a genuine public interest is naturally to be rated more highly than the right to sell what is mere 'tittle-tattle'," he said.

Eady was particularly concerned with the effects that any publicity would have on CC's wife. She was said to be suffering stress and anxiety which requires medical attention and the court heard that she had talked of committing suicide.

"If I come to the conclusion that, in order to protect [CC's family life], it is necessary to prevent the Defendant going directly or indirectly to the media for no better reason than spite, money-making or 'tittle tattle', then I would be obliged to restrain him. The fact that he may be, or may see himself as, an 'injured party' does not accord him a special status, not given to others, which inherently raises the value of the communications he wishes to make to the tabloids on to some higher plane or renders them more valuable in Article 10 terms," said Eady.

The court issued a temporary injunction stopping AB from communicating with the media directly or indirectly or publishing on the internet any details of the affair.

SOURCE

Ex- Sheriff's Deputy Charged with Felony Over E-Threat

By Dan Nienaber

(MINNESOTA) A former Blue Earth County sheriff’s deputy has been charged with a felony for an alleged e-mail threat he sent to other deputies in November.

The terroristic threats charge was filed Wednesday against Richard Glenn Miller, 36, of Mankato. Miller resigned from his job as a deputy in December after being placed on paid administrative leave Nov. 11.

That was the day Miller allegedly sent an e-mail, with the subject “Union Contract,” to 14 other deputies at 5:46 a.m. He was the only deputy on duty at the time, the criminal complaint said.

After discussing upcoming union negotiations, Miller allegedly ended the e-mail with, “We absolutely need to have this added to our contract and if we don’t I’m gonna bring a gun into our office and shoot this place and everyone to hell.” The e-mail allegedly ended with “MILLER” in all capital letters.

Miller was put on administrative leave later that day after the e-mail was shown to Lt. David Karge and Capt. Rich Murry. Miller allegedly told Karge and Murry, who went to his house to confront him, that the e-mail was a joke, and he ends all of his e-mails with a “bit of his sense of humor,” the complaint said. Miller’s squad car, M16 rifle and handgun were taken at that time.

All of the deputies who received the e-mail, as well as Karge and Murry, were interviewed by Sgt. Steve Collins of the Scott County Sheriff’s Department. Three of the deputies said they felt threatened by the e-mail and several said they felt “slightly alarmed,” Collins reported.

Others said they weren’t threatened but could understand how the e-mail could be perceived as a threat, the complaint said.

Miller said Wednesday that he never intended to harm or threaten anyone.

“It was an expression meant in a humorous way, and it was taken out of context,” Miller said. “It was a phrase that’s commonly used.

“If I would have known I was going to threaten someone with what I said, I most certainly wouldn’t have said it.”

Miller also said it might have been a mistake to make the comment in an e-mail because it’s more difficult to convey that a phrase is meant to be humorous. If he would have said it in person, the other deputies would have seen him smiling and understood it wasn’t meant to be a threat, he said.

“They were co-workers and friends,” Miller said. “It’s a real tight group of people. Whenever you’re dealing with union negotiations, you always try to lighten the mood.

“It’s really hurtful that someone would think I’m capable of something like that. I’ve spent the last 13 years of my life trying to help people. To be accused of something like that is really hurtful.”

After Miller’s resignation, Blue Earth County Chief Deputy Mike Maurer would not disclose why Miller had been placed on paid leave or the reason for his resignation. Maurer would only say there was an internal investigation and that the Scott County department had been asked to do a criminal investigation.

The investigation ended in early January and was turned over to the Brown County attorney’s office to decide if any criminal charges should be filed. Scott and Brown counties were asked to help to avoid any conflicts of interest, Maurer said.

Miller, who had been a Blue Earth County deputy since 1999, had been disciplined twice before by superiors, according to personnel records available to the public.

In 2005, he was suspended for 10 hours without payhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif for failing to complete two training courses. He also was suspended without pay for one work week in February 2002 after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. In that incident, Miller also was accused of distracting a state trooper so he would be pulled over instead of an intoxicated friend who was driving another car.

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