A 20 year old college student was the victim of a sextortion scheme by a male from Williamsburg Virginia. Terrell Ashby, 20 met the 20 year old victim online and convinced her to chat with him via a different platform, by sending her money. She agreed and the two had a nude video chat. He chatted under the name of Jason Brandon. What she did not know is that Ashby was recording some of that chat and later sent her messages demanding $40.00 or he would send naked photos of her .
The messages were incessant . One of them read, “When you send the $40 I will delete your nudes offline” and “Just send the $40 and you’re good lol[.] We aren’t good until you send the $40[,] simply send the $40 and I’ll delete it[.]” (sic) . The victim paid Ashby the $40.00 and hoped never to hear from him again.
She opened up her messenger a short time later and saw multiple messages demanding all of the money in her bank account. In these messages, Ashby threatened to disseminate the nude photos of the victim to her college and other social media friends and followers if she did not pay him more money. For example, Ashby wrote, in part: “Your expose page is being created right now and I’m also going to tag your college[.] I’ll end you[.] I’m not someone you want to [expletive] with[,] go tell your father that… Just [sent] your nudes to [name redacted][.] Already exposed you whore[.] Your life is over[.] You’re dumb if you thought this was over its not over until my $134 is sent[.] I’ll make sure our whole school sees your nudes[.]” (sic).
As Ashby started to advertise the naked photos and disseminate them, the victim had taken a large amount of pills to calm her down. She was rushed to the emergency room and recovered fully. Ashby was arrested by federal authorities today, December 18, 2020. at his Virginia home on cyberstalking charges.