Sextortion on Adult Friend Finder: Resources for Victims.

Adult Friend Finder is an online dating website aimed at casual daters and swingers. It’s marketed as a ‘gateway to fantastic connections and endless fun⁽¹⁾.’ However, the fun comes to a screeching halt if you become the target of sextortion. 

After starting and selling the world’s first online dating website, Andrew Conru founded Friend Finder in 1996⁽²⁾. What started as a simple social networking site quickly became an outlet for people to exchange explicit photos and search for sexual partners.  

Conru quickly capitalized on this audience by launching Adult Friend Finder. Today, over 80 million active users look for potential hookups and browse and share sexual content on the site⁽³⁾. The ability to exchange this media within the site makes sextortion a prominent issue on AFF. 

This poses a legitimate threat to the reputation and mental wellbeing of users. However, there are ways to avoid these cybercriminals and resources available to those who fall victim to sextortion on Adult Friend Finder. 

How Sextortion Happens on Adult Friend Finder

While each case can be different, sextortion scams across AFF and all other platforms typically employ some variation of the following structure: 

• Fake Profiles & Catfishing: The scammer nearly never uses their own identity. Rather, they find images online to create a fake persona or impersonate a real individual to lure their targets into sharing intimate content. 
• Manipulative Conversations: Sextortionists will utilize social engineering tactics in conversation with their targets to create a sense of trust. This includes feigning shared interests, quick declarations of love, and sob stories that manipulate the target’s emotions. 
• Blackmail Threats: Once the explicit media has been obtained, the conversation takes a stark turn. Scammers will begin threatening to leak the victim’s nudes to friends, family, and professional contacts if their demands are not met. 
• Use of Stolen or Deepfake Content: This media can be used in multiple ways. Scammers may send stolen or digitally manufactured content to initiate the exchange of intimate photos. They may also steal your photos to create explicit deepfake content to sextort you with. 

Why Adult Friend Finder is Popular with Recent Sextortion Cases?

In a recent two-month study analyzing nearly 1,000 surveys, we found that 9.26% of dating app sextortion cases were reported to have originated on Adult Friend Finder. The nature of activity, available features, and security vulnerabilities on the site all contribute to its susceptibility to online dating scams. 

• Anonymity & Casual Hookup Culture: Users are more likely to engage in explicit exchanges on the app as it allows and encourages the sharing of this type of content. Furthermore, the platform promotes video chats and cam livestreams that can easily be manipulated with deepfake technology and expose users to webcam blackmail. 
• Lack of Strict Verification: The ease with which users can create new accounts on AFF allows fake profiles to flourish on the platform. Scammers simply have to supply an email address, date of birth, and location with extremely laxed verification measures to begin catfishing unsuspecting individuals. 
• User Vulnerability: The platform is marketed for its intended privacy, allowing users to freely explore their desires in a like-minded arena. However, this information becoming public knowledge would pose the potential for online blackmail and, unfortunately, is not just a hypothetical scenario. 

Previous Data Breaches

In addition to the risks posed to those currently using the platform, two previous data breaches hold the potential to impact users spanning back to the site’s inception. The first attack in 2015 impacted nearly 4 million people and exposed data including preferences and marital status. 

The second breach in 2016 released data of over 412 million accounts, 15 million of which were deleted but never fully removed from the database. The data included usernames, emails, passwords, purchase history, and the IP address of the last log in. 

This occurred shortly after security researcher Revolver warned of a potential security flaw within the AFF site. While AFF confirmed that they’d been made aware of the vulnerability, not much has been implemented as far as security features are concerned⁽⁴⁾. 

Users dating back to 1996 were left in jeopardy of online blackmail with the release of this data. Emails becoming public allows scammers to craft convincing sextortion email scams and leverage AFF users who may be embarrassed by their activity on the site. 

Warning Signs of a Sextortion Scam on Adult Friend Finder.

The best was to combat sextortion on Adult Friend Finder is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Knowing the common signals of these cybercrimes can help you position yourself to best avoid them. 

• The conversation becomes sexual at an early stage and the perpetrator asks for intimate images relentlessly. They may initiate this transaction by ‘lovebombing’ or even exchanging manufactured intimate content first. 
• The perpetrator may ask you to take the conversation to a different platform where chat logs are more difficult to track. However, this doesn’t mean that sextortion isn’t possible directly through Adult Friend Finder’s messaging features.
• These scammers are often catfishing multiple individuals at a time. If they struggle to maintain the details of your online relationship, this may be a crack in their façade. Asking specific questions can help you expose potential sextortionists. 

What to Do if You Are Targeted by a Sextortionist on Adult Friend Finder?

If you are past the point of prevention, you need to act quickly. Ignoring your sextortionist will not make them go away and your chances of mitigating damage will only decrease the longer you wait to handle the situation. The following course of action is advised: 

• Do not pay: Paying any online scammer will only result in further extortion. If somebody is threatening to leak your nudes, paying them will not remove their leverage. 
• Stop Communication: Do not engage the sextortionist any further, but leave the chat open. Blocking the account can impede investigation and result in the perpetrator following through on their threats to leak your nudes. 
• Review & Collect Evidence: Assess the threat level by analyzing the data that your scammer may have access to. Collect evidence such as account names and any threats made against you. 
• Report To System Admins & Law Enforcement: This can remove both the sextortionist’s account and your nudes from the platform. The police may be able to help with the sextortion case and the report will be useful in future legal proceedings. 
• Seek Professional Help: If your sextortion case is beyond the assistance of law enforcement, you should contact a cybersecurity firm that can utilize digital forensics techniques to unmask and unarm your attacker. 

Are You a Victim of AFF Sextortion? Digital Forensics Corp. Can Help.

DFC is here to assist victims of sextortion on Adult Friend Finder and any other online platform. Our team of analysts have seen thousands of sextortion cases, allowing us to develop preparatory knowledge when it comes to dealing with these perpetrators. 

We utilize techniques such as IP tracing, device fingerprinting, and metadata analysis to help locate your sextortionist regardless of where they reside. Furthermore, we can find security vulnerabilities in your online occupancy and help prevent similar attacks in the future. 

If you have fallen victim to AFF sextortion, reach out to our 24/7 Sextortion Helpline for a free consultation with one of our analysts today. 

Sources: 

1. What is the purpose of AdultFriendFinder? – AdultFriendFinder Help
2. The Accidental ‘Friend’ Finder – Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business 
3. Is AdultFriendFinder Legit? An Unbiased Look. – Picatio 
4. AdultFriendFinder network hack exposes 412 million accounts | ZDNET 

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY SUBJECT MATTER. DIGITAL FORENSICS CORP. IS NOT A LAWFIRM AND DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL ADVICE OR SERVICES. By viewing posts, the reader understands there is no attorney-client relationship, the post should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney, and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning a specific situation.