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SOCIAL MEDIA MIGHT KEEP US CONNECTED, BUT IT’S ALSO AT THE EPICENTRE OF A NEW WAVE OF MODERN SLAVERY
James Blake lives a life many of us might envy. The 30 year old from Northern Ireland is the founder and CEO of global digital marketing firm Vindicta, and last year was named one of the top five young business people in Northern Ireland. His Instagram shows him enjoying alifestyle many want to emulate –and some do. James has fallen victim to online identity theft countless times, with his personal details and photos being used to not only set up fake Instagram accounts, but also Twitter, Tinder, and Bumble, to name but a few.
At first, it seemed like just one of those inconveniences that came with success. Then James began getting messages from people who believed they had been speaking with him online, only to be lured into sham cryptocurrency scams or romance frauds. Wanting to get to the bottom of what was going on, the entrepreneur recorded avideo asking people who had been contacted by “him” to reach out. They did so –in their hundreds. Disturbed by the number of accounts that had replicated his life for criminal ends, James began investigating for aBBC Three documentary. But he wasn’t prepared for how deep the con went, or how those fake social media and app profiles were inextricably linked with the horrors of modern slavery.
STOLEN LIVES
Of the hundreds of people who DM-ed James, many were too ashamed to speak out about what had happened to them, but of those who did, the story was depressingly familiar. Attracted by the photos of ahandsome, smiling James, with his cute dog and fast cars, the women connected with “him” on various apps. As they became more deeply connected to the person they thought they were talking to, the conversations turned to the idea of them investing large amounts of money in cryptocurrency. This set alarm bells ringing, as did James’ reluctance to ever chat with them on camera, although one woman – who was left “emotionally devastated” when she realised the man she was falling for didn’t exist –admitted she may well have gone through with the investment if the con had gone on.
One, however, did lose £30,000 to the scammers. Appearing on the docu with her identity protected, she revealed how she really believed she had been in arelationship with James. The scammers had even sent her pictures of James’ mum sitting on the sofa of her home with her dog –aphoto James recognised as one he had posted not long before. The woman was audibly upset as she said, “You meet someone you thought was honest and trustworthy, then they take your life
