Teenage fraudster used fake Facebook profile to dupe autistic man into sending her naked photos

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)


The 18-year-old girl Rhianna Cannell was impersonating was held by police and suspected of being responsible for the disgusting con trick


A teenager used a fake Facebook profile to dupe an autistic young man into sending her naked snaps.

Rhianna Cannell then threatened to share the compromising photographs if the vulnerable victim did not pay her, a court heard yesterday.

The 19-year-old, from Ayr, managed to get £100 out of her victim, who is 24 and has Asperger syndrome – a form of autism.

And the 18-year-old girl she was impersonating using a fake Facebook profile ended up being held by police and suspected of being responsible for the disgusting con trick.

But Cannell is now facing justice for her crime, the Daily Record reports.

Cannell allegedly stole another teenage girl's Facebook identity (Image: Getty)


Ayr Sheriff Court was told that while posing as the other girl, Cannell promised to meet the man on the condition he send naked pictures of himself.

She also tricked the victim into going to an address to meet his supposed online date.

Cannell admitted setting up the fake accounts in the other girl’s name, pretending to be her, repeatedly sending the young man messages in her name and requesting photos of his private parts.

She pled guilty to arranging to meet him, inducing him to send intimate pictures, persuading him to go to a meet-up place and blackmailing him out of £100.

The con artist also admitted causing the girl she impersonated to be detained and interviewed by the police.

Cannell will be sentenced next month.

Sentencing has been deferred for the preparation of a social work report and restriction of liberty assessment.


Source: Teen fraudster used fake Facebook to dupe autistic man into sending naked snaps

 

[dragoncat16]

While I do feel for the fraud victim, I have to wonder what his motivations were when he sent a stranger those photos of himself. Nobody was holding a gun to his head when he did that.

 

[AGXStarseed]

While I do feel for the fraud victim, I have to wonder what his motivations were when he sent a stranger those photos of himself. Nobody was holding a gun to his head when he did that.

Some people are just good at manipulation - particularly when it comes to manipulating emotions.
Maybe he's been alone for a while, isn't so good at 'the dating game' and is a bit naive? I don't know, but things like that can contribute to stuff like this happening.
Makes me think of this advert:

 

[Flinty]

While I do feel for the fraud victim, I have to wonder what his motivations were when he sent a stranger those photos of himself. Nobody was holding a gun to his head when he did that.

This is a thing that people do in this day and age. It is important to note that it is not specific to the autism spectrum. I don't understand it either.

 

[Streetwise]

While I do feel for the fraud victim, I have to wonder what his motivations were when he sent a stranger those photos of himself. Nobody was holding a gun to his head when he did that.

What if you can't understand that it is bad to do that ,not everybody who has high functioning autism is at the highest end of high functioning autism ,they could be at the lowest end .

 

[dragoncat16]

But what if this guy were not on the spectrum at all? How would you react to such a story then? You'd probably say that he was doing it for his own purposes and he deserved what he got. If the guy were not on the spectrum this probably wouldn't be in the news.

If the guy is high functioning enough to live independently (I have to assume that is the case since he was able to go out to the meet-up place without anyone stopping him), he should have thought twice before sending the pics in the first place, even if he thought they were going to someone he knew. His motivations were the same as those of any other guy, whether on the spectrum or not.

I do have sympathy for anyone who gets conned, but to say that we should feel particularly sorry for him or giving him allowances just because he's an aspie just makes me think that we as aspies are not giving ourselves enough credit as a group. Hopefully he learned from his mistake and won't repeat it.

 

[Crossbreed]

I'm not saying that it is ideal, but if this guy (and the women in the Auckland incident) sent photos with no identifying features (like their faces/heads), a blackmailer would have no leverage on them.