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Images taken by the DOJ from an alleged sextortionist's LinkedIn page and driving license.

On Tuesday, Instagram announced it was going to set teenager accounts to private by default. A recent sextortion case on the platform, one of many to have plagued Instagram over recent years, highlights why Meta has felt the need to lock down accounts owned by younger users.

A Virginia man was charged in May this year with carrying out a sextortion campaign over Instagram and Kik Messenger, using a real-life porn actress’ photos to trick as many as 60 victims into sharing nude images, previously-unreported court records show.

Gary Owens Jr. has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which allege he grabbed online photos of the porn star, who now lives in Florida, and convinced victims he was a real young teenage woman named Jessica Lincon who wanted to engage in a sexual relationship with them. The government did not say why Owens was doing it other than to trick victims into producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) for him.

After the cops searched Owens’ iPad, they discovered Google searches for the adult entertainment actress and evidence he’d visited porn sites to view images of the porn star, as well as hundreds of photos and videos of her undressed or performing sex acts. Investigators also found over 900 images of “males in some stage of undress or engaged in a sex act,” according to a search warrant.

Forbes understands the actress has not been contacted by law enforcement regarding the use of her photos.........

© Forbes