Important thing to mention we’re in the EU, not in the US.
So basically the above. Won’t dox myself but there are pictures uploaded with the names of the women, the pictures were taken in private, some of these pictures were taken when my girlfriend was alone with the person. There are also a lot of pictures of women taken secretly. There are also details mentioned about e.g. the flats of women or other details that you can only know if you know the people. There also photoshopped pictures where throats are slit and there are very explicit murder + rape fantasies written out.
Right now we have two possible explanations
- It is the person we suspect it is
- Someone who knows the person and is part of our friend circle has hacked the iCloud of the person we suspect it is.
Besides going to the police is there anything we can do about this? My fear is that our national police is too incompetent to deal with this.
Thanks for all the comments so far! The update is that we just went to the police and asked to remain anonymously which worked. But they effectively told us that there’s nothing that they can do and the affected women should file a report online and that’s it.
This is a very frustrating outcome because the person knows where we live and has been to our house and lives in walking distance. One of the affected women (foolishly imo) reached out to the person and the profile on the snuff page got deleted shortly after, which makes it even more likely that it’s actually our suspect. They also recently created a profile on theync.net.
We’re clueless what to do.
FBI, not the cops. If he’s making threats online it falls in their jurisdiction.
Cops are useless wastes of their father’s protein.
You can try to find a lawyer that maybe specialized in this kind of stuff. They’ll know best what to do.
Try to get a restraining order, maybe? That’s the usual go-to when there’s a reason to believe someone might attempt to harm you, but they haven’t actually done anything to the effect yet.
If I was you I’d be taking physical security steps too. Mostly just thinking about how to avoid being vulnerable where this guy can find you. Lock your doors at home, keep a potential weapon handy, don’t post about it being somewhere until you’re gone, that kind of thing.
I’m unsure with UK but I know the US it can cost a lot of money and basically has to be renewed every year meaning an annual cost (paid protection for the wealthy and all). Hopefully it’s different in other parts of the world, the police knowing though is an important thing just in case anything comes up in the future and you can show a timeline and history for evidence so definitely always have a discussion with the local authorities.
Geez, that’s horrifying. I’ve never had to personally work with them, so I can’t comment on my jurisdiction.
Cost money for restraining order?
Yeah no that’s a very American thing
The most American thing is, the police don’t even need to actually enforce the restraining order in any way.
If the police won’t help then you’ve no option but to take your own safety into your own hands. Is pepper spray/gel legal where you live? If so start carrying it, if not find something else you can carry that would incapacitate a would be attacker.
Even if it’s not legal… I’d rather have the fine of having it than to not have it if I was dealing with the same
Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.
https://darknetdiaries.com/transcript/140/
This pod cast is about someone who went through something similar, and ended up prosecuting.
See how negatively it affected their lives and decide if involving the police is best for you. I hope you agree that it is.
You may be preventing future crimes by stopping the behaviour early, even though it can be socially awkward to navigate this with a friend.
Thanks I’m currently reading through this and it’s horrifying. Really hope nothing ended up on 4chan.
This is what I was thinking of. Unfortunately the Police were not very little help most of the time. During their saga, they basically had to become their own lawyers and collect a pile of evidence to make anything happen.
Okay I’ve read through the whole thing and it’s impressive. To us, the police were also not very helpful unfortunately. I tried searching for further evidence or anything that connects the person we suspect to this, but so far I wasn’t successful. Luckily, there’s nothing else on their theync profile, but I’m guessing that they know the username is burnt so if something new popped up we probably wouldn’t know.
Murder someone else, plant the weapon on him ans call the police with a tip! lol
or just go to the police before anyone dies
Do the other women know? Maybe (you and) your girlfriend should warn them, at the very least to file police reports so the police might actually bother.
Assuming the website they’re hosted in is relatively normal, you can still contact the site owners. There’s a good chance the images will be taken down regardless. You can also have Google (and probably other search engines) to hide these results when searching for your girlfriend’s name so people who look her up aren’t confronted with murder plots.
However, if this stuff gets taken down before the police get off their arses, you may end up with a case with “no proof”, so make sure to collect the evidence before that.
I have no idea if it’s smart to confront the person you suspect or not, but if he’s part of your extended friend group, that may be the only way to get them to stop barring the justice system intervening.
What options for personal protection you have vary country by country (and self defence may be criminal if excessive violence is used even if you are attacked), but self defence courses are probably not a bad idea. A simple door/window alarm and/or security cameras are probably legal everywhere, and can help prove to the police that there’s an actual threat if someone starts skulking or even warn you if they break in while you’re asleep. Owning a gun won’t help you if you’re snuck up on in your sleep, after all. Plus, even if this turns out to just be a disturbed sexual deviant who has no plans of hurting anyone in real life, those investments may pay themselves back later in life.
The potential psychopath has “”“helpfully”“” written down what he thinks the crimes would look like, so you can take advantage of that when you pick your self defence strategy.
Yeah there’s now a group of like 10 women who are all part of the same circle and who are affected by this. One of the affected women reached out to the person and the profile on the snuff page got deleted shortly after, she still believes he just got hacked. We have a security camera at the door already but my girlfriend is understandbly worried about being alone outside now. We believe we’re safe at home currently which is good, but we will definitely need to take self-defense classes.
What was the response during the reaching out? Did she reach out in person, or what? Aside from the page going down (what was the precise timing on that?), what was his response?
If you do not wish to involve the police, then you have to look at your illegal options.
How have you found this material? If you’re seeing this material, in this person’s iCloud account, without their knowledge, that does not speak to the security of their icloud account.
So how is it that you’ve come to see this material?
Someone identified one of the women and with a fake social media profile that’s already deleted reached out to her. There was a user profile one of the apparently typical websites for snuff fantasies, pedophilia, etc.
Under this profile there were hundreds, if not thousands of pictures uploaded in the course of several years and some being very recently posting murder fantasies about the suspect’s current girlfriend and in the past sharing information that you could only know if you had been to the house of the victim. Also, it is clear that the uploader knew first and last name of many of the victims. There were pictures taken from social media, but also some that we’re 100% taken with the suspect’s phone and some that they took with their camera and that never got posted anywhere. They were uploaded on the platform before being shared with that victim. There were also tons of pictures taken of women secretly in public transportation or on the street.
I see.
But you mentioned a potential explanation based on his icloud being hacked. How would his icloud being hacked be a potential explanation? What’s the connection to icloud?
Are these pictures — the ones that have been photoshopped to show murder scenes — ones that you know where taken by his phone?
The icloud hack would then be someone getting their hands on those photos?
Is that true of the other women as well — that their photos originated on his iphone?
I honestly also don’t believe that the iCloud got hacked. Like sure, possibly someone could be controlling their phone and somehow take secret pictures exactly in the right moment.
Some of the photoshopped pictures are taken by their phone, some are screenshots from matches in dating apps, social media, etc. But there are really thousands of pictures uploaded without consent and I’d say at least 30% were taken in secret and in a private setting. Some pictures originated also from an actual camera and were uploaded there before anyone could have seen them.
So for the “I got hacked” theory to be true someone would have to have access to all the pictures, know personal details of all the women involved that only a friend can know, and that wouldn’t explain the secret pictures that were taken e.g. of the wive of one of their friends or from neighbors out of the flat of the suspect.
You didn’t answer any of my questions. Looking for precise answers to these questions, by number.
- Are at least some of these photos known to be taken by his phone?
- If so, how is that known?
- How is it known that they were uploaded “from an actual camera” and “before anyone could have seen them”?
- Are all the women involved part of this friend group?
- Are the photos taken secretly from events where only this guy was present to take photos?
- How did it become known to you and others, in the group, that this one friend had reached out to him? Did she report to the group she had done so?
Generally speaking, I’m sensing an etymological sloppiness and vagueness in the interpretation of information flows within the group. That could be a language barrier thing. But it could also indicate an environment which is ripe for someone to be framed for this activity.
I’m sorry if I come across as rude. I am autistic, and I am currently making a conscious choice to prioritize my autistic precision over friendliness in communication, in response to the seriousness of the situation.
I want to add that timing can be an effective tool in framing. For example, one wishing to frame a newcomer to a group can commit a crime immediately after the newcomer arrives; this will automatically cast suspicion on the newcomer.
The way timing plays into this scenario is that if the friend who reached out to him immediately told the group that she had done so, then if the guy is being framed the framer could respond to her confrontation report by pulling down the snuff profile and it would seem as if her confrontation had caused the pull down.
The most likely explanation is that your gut is correct. But people who operate outside the normal flow of culture (for example the kind of people who might compile thousands of photos of a group of women including photoshopped murder scenes), tend to have an ability to manipulate perceptions and take advantage of unconscious etymological heuristics to create false narratives that are then “discovered” by innocent people caught up in their bullshit.
Does this guy, your primary suspect, give other indications of a capacity for violence or deep hatred?
Oh, another question I just realized:
- How was the snuff site profile discovered originally?
Hey yeah no worries I think it’s good to be clear about these things. Not a native speaker and none of the people involved are, let me try to be as clear as possible.
1. Are at least some of these photos known to be taken by his phone?
Yes!
2. If so, how is that known?
Some of the victims remember the occasions, and in one case we could identify that the suspect took the pictures from out of their flat.
3. How is it known that they were uploaded “from an actual camera” and “before anyone could have seen them”?
Because they are from a meeting where the suspect was alone with one of the victims. We saw when they got uploaded shortly after the meeting and they were only shared with the victim over a GDrive weeks later. The victim also confirmed that some of the pictures were taken without her knowledge (and they were from weird angles focussing on the neck). This is the weirdest part. Even if someone is framing the suspect, the suspect would have still taken creepy pictures both with the phone and with their actual camera.
4. Are all the women involved part of this friend group?
All women part of this friend group are involved but not all the women involved are part of this friend group, there are hundreds of women.
5. Are the photos taken secretly from events where only this guy was present to take photos?
See my answer to 3 at least in one case very clearly, and in some cases it is likely but we can’t say 100%.
6. How did it become known to you and others, in the group, that this one friend had reached out to him? Did she report to the group she had done so?
The victims who are part of the same friend group have formed a WhatsApp group. She mentioned that she’s gonna call and she reported this to the group. So before that the profile was there and up and after the phone call the profile disappeared within less than an hour.
7. How was the snuff site profile discovered originally?
An anonymous social media profile identified one of the women because her first name, initial of last name and many pictures of her were posted.
8. Does this guy, your primary suspect, give other indications of a capacity for violence or deep hatred?
They have been very frustrated and we know that they were writing hateful comments on social media below news articles, also alcoholism is an issue (drinking literally multiple drinks every day). There have been incidents with them stalking women they had a crush on in the past, but to the best of my knowledge while this was very creepy it wasn’t violent. But it was actually stalking, figuring out where the woman worked, which shifts she had, where she lived, etc. Also, the suspect seems to have constant conflicts with someone in the group, no exceptions, but came off the me as a very avoidant person, afraid of confronation.
Hope this makes it clearer and thank you for taking the time!
You’ve got no choice BUT to go to the police.
Like what else is there? Confront the individual directly and play a Clue-like game with them? If you have the evidence and know who it is, they need to be dealt with legally.
Why does everyone read it that way. They wrote they’ll go to the police. Besides that, theyre looking for steps they may have missed
My reply was an hour ago, their update was at the time, 57 minutes ago. That meant, I posted first before they gave an update. I don’t get why you’ve got to be so hostile about this but if you actually put your remaining braincells together and thought of this, connect the dots, it kind of makes sense.
I commented before the update and that’s where I’m going to leave it at that. Oh and enjoy your block, too.
You mentioned blocking me so whatever, ill still write this:
Nothing i wrote was hostile. I simply pointed it out. And it was already clear (to me) from the OP amd their first comment teply.
I’m not sure why you took such offense, maybe look into that? It’s very valuable to be able to take normal criticism.
I didn’t read you as hostile either.
Yes exactly this! Just posted an update because we actually went to the police but they told us there’s nothing they can do.
Skip the police and go strait to the FBI.
Fuck the police, never involve them in anything unless you want your dog shot and crack sprinkled between your couch cushions.
Remember that poor old lady that called the cops because she thought someone was in her yard and the shitbag pig shot her with no consequences?
Do not let cops anywhere near your life if you can avoid it. The FBI will act on credible online threats.
Eu not usa. Fbi is usa
Yeah I just figured that out, going back to fix
Is there a mental health service in country? They may be able to help or get you in touch with other helpful services.
We’re considering this as well, probably as a first step a few other women together with my girlfriend will seek advice.
Dude, this is the kind of red flag, where you really should get the police involved, or at least consult with them.
I mean of course we’re going to the police. The problem is just that our local police is incompetent especially related to internet things posted on a US hosted website, and there are hundreds of pictures of tens of women. So I’m legit worried that we’d be the first to go to the police, and they end up doing nothing but somehow the person we suspect it to be is indeed the person who does this and now also has our names and we actually end up like on the pictures.
If you want the pictures removed, your girlfriend should file a GDPR deletion request with the website. But coordinate that with the police because the worst thing could be the website deleting it and the police then going “we don’t see what you have described on the website, we can’t do anything”
Be clear that it’s not the pictures that are the problem. It’s the threat.
Go to the equivalent of the FBI. FBI is national police, and they are also an intelligence agency. They’re not incompetent. Whatever the equivalent is in your country, go to them.
If this were in the United States, then the targets being in multiple states would enhance the FBI’s jurisdiction.
The more geographically spread out these targets are, the more of a case there is to be made for handling it “at the national level”.
Heck you might even be able to contact the actual FBI since the website is US (no idea whether this is true).
Figure out who deals with cybercrimes in your region. It’s likely a separate agency and they have the resources to actually investigate.
Definitely involve the police.
Yes certainly and we’re also talking to others who are on that website, just trying to figure out if there’s anything else we should do in preparation, I already took tons of screenshots in case they’d take the pictures down.
When you say “others who are on that website” you mean the mods/operators of said website? Because if anything gets taken down, your copies are heresay. You will need the operator of the site to submit records on the user (or they should expect to be subpoenaed for the info).
With others I mean other victims, sorry for being unclear. I would love for this person to get caught via logs, but since it’s a US website and we’re in the EU I’m not sure we can do anything.
You can use the Internet Archive to establish what content was on the site at a specific time.
Definitely not unless you want them to shoot you too.The threats were made online, get the FBI involved.edit: My bad, this is EU, police are safe to contact
Acquire some means of personal defense, also.
Mace, stun gun, etc. I carry a pocket stun gun because in my city there is occasionally violence on the public bus.
All of which you’ve described is illegal to carry outside of the US.
Carry hairspray in a can. Can be used as mace but cannot easily be construed as a weapon by police if they find it in your bag.
Depends on the country, but the more important point is universal: adopt a defensive mindset and the means to fulfill it.
Please do not spread misinformation in order to entertain yourself.
Op mentioned not living in the US so this may not be a legal option.
I am not sure about most of these but I remember a European discussion on wether pepperspray should be legal or not.
To extend this, consider your own safety throughout. Unless the police arrest them and they remain in custody, you have a potential serious threat. Avoid situations where you/others could be vulnerable, such as alone or at night. You may want to setup visible surveillance cameras, alter your routines, etc.
The police will be there after anything happens, but that may be too late for you.
It may be easier to get a rifle or a shotgun for hunting purposes. Really depends on location, but this might be the easiest and fastest way to legally get your hands on a firearm.
Buy a gun and then go to the police
At least this advice should always be paired with classes at a shooting range.
Not in the US so can’t get a gun unfortunately.
Get a dozen mates together, pay him a visit.
As fun as that sounds, the kind of mind that plans murder fantasies will blindside you with revenge.
Just send it to the FBI
Can you figure out who the hosting company is? It could be against their terms and services. It’s not going to fix things, but taking those pictures down while you take other actions might still be beneficial.
Yeah it’s one of those snuff websites… The stuff got taken down already but the suspect lives in walking distance and knows where we live, it’s scary.
