17/02/2021 – 2:08 PM (GMT-4)
The National Association of Actors of Cuba denounced a case of cyberbullying against an actress and warned the union’s professionals about the danger they are exposed to in the case of delivering intimate photos to cyber criminals.
“From this platform, we want to report a case of cyberbullying, identity theft and attempted cyber fraud and ‘sextortion’,” the association said via a message on its Facebook account.
Apparently, since the beginning of February, several Cuban actresses have been contacted through the social network Instagram by one or more people who have supplanted the identities of prestigious institutions and directors, with the intention of getting intimate photos of them. To get them, the criminal (s) made false statements about Cuban filmmakers Juan Carlos Cremata, Gerardo Chijona or Chilean Silvio Caiozzi.
“The person hiding behind those profiles shows interest in these actresses for an alleged production that would be very well paid, talks about an alleged casting and demands intimate photos with the justification that they should decide whether the actress can choose the role or not. It also puts pressure to send the photos as soon as possible, ”denounces the Cuban National Actors Association.
Cyberbullying or virtual harassment is the use of digital means to harass a person or group of people through personal attacks, disclosure of confidential or false information, among others, and may be a criminal offense according to Wikipedia.
Sextortion or sexual extortion, in turn, is a form of sexual exploitation, in which a person is induced or blackmailed – usually via Internet messages – with an image or video of themselves being naked or performing sexual acts.
Generally, blackmailers communicate with victims through fake profiles on social networks under good-intentioned deceit. According to the consulted digital encyclopedia, the victim is forced to have sexual intercourse with someone, to give more erotic or pornographic images, money or some other consideration, with the threat of distributing the original images if they do not meet the blackmailer’s demands.
“We want to warn actors and actresses of this danger. We must always protect our integrity and our image and verify the legitimacy of the profiles on social networks, ”advises the Association, while reporting that thankfully none of the contacted actresses have fallen into the trap of reporting these profiles on Instagram.
The false identities used were: ICRT (with the fake account @icrt_oficial), Juan Carlos Cremata (@silviocaiozzi), Gerardo Chijona (the name of his fake profile is not specified) and Silvio Caiozzi (@silviocaiozzi).
Likewise, the Association requests that the information be shared and the account reported: https://instagram.com/silviocaiozzi?igshid=1fghyoxi2nbxu
This form of harassment has also been suffered by artists such as Taylor Swift, Selena Gómez, Hailey Bieber and many others, who have even decided to leave their accounts on the Internet to avoid negative and hateful comments, as reported Infobae
Cyberbullying is increasingly common according to this digital portal. The victim is intimidated and threatened through social networks or the Internet to make them vulnerable and even depressed.
In June 2019, the sextortion of 21-year-old actress and singer Bella Thorne, known for her work in ‘Famous in love’ and the Disney Channel series ‘Shake it up’, was known. As told Yasss, Mediaset Spain’s news portal, Thorne said she had been blackmailed into publishing some images she sent to a person through her Twitter account.
Faced with the pressure of the cyberbully, Bella Thorne decided to report the matter to the FBI and also publish those photos showing her naked body on her social networks to disable her threats: “Tonight I will sleep better knowing that I have regained power. You have no control over my life and you never can. “