They’re pornographic parasites.
An UK Instagram model is fighting back after her images were pilfered and sold online in a seedy new trend known as “e-whoring.”
“It’s like those years of my life shaped who I am,” said former glamour model Jess Davies, 27, who is the subject of the new BBC Three documentary “When Nudes Are Stolen.”
An investigation found that sultry pics of the Wales native had been swiped and sold to catfishers for as little $15 per “pack,” the BBC reported. (A catfisher lures someone into a relationship with a fictional online persona.) These social-media bottom feeders then disseminated the snaps across the internet for use in fake media profiles to porn sites, and even ads for escort services.
Davies first discovered she was a victim of what she found out was referred to as e-whoring after she posted a photo of herself in a forum and asked if anyone had seen it before.
Within moments, she received a reply that a pack of 100 ill-gotten pics of her were for sale. “I just feel gross that he recognized me,” said the distraught Insta influencer with nearly 150,000 followers, who was shocked that someone would ruin her life “for $15.”
Longtime cyber expert Scott McGready dubbed the practice “anti-women,” saying the scammers swapped nude pics as if they were “trading baseball cards,” according to a Daily Mail report.
The scandalous photographs in question had been sourced from Davies’ career as a glamour model that began when she was just 18. As part of her contract, the budding cover girl was required to take risqué selfies and topless shots for her mag’s membership site, which admittedly made her uncomfortable.
And while Davies has retired from modeling, the “quite relentless” site’s images have been used to porn-swoggle unsuspecting men around the globe from the UK to the Philippines.
“Some of these men can be quite relentless,” the blonde lamented.
And they didn’t just disseminate Davies’ site pics. The ex-model recalled one horrific incident where a guy she slept with shot and posted nude photos of her without consent.
“‘He went for a shower, so I checked his phone,” the besieged victim recounted. “He had taken pictures of me naked in bed when I was sleeping and texted them to his friends, and said, ‘I’ve just slept with Jess Davies.’ ”
To add insult to injury, social-media cretins would send Davies “rude” and “abusive” messages which she attributed to the dehumanizing effect of the internet.
“I think if you saw this happening in real life, in the market, people wouldn’t believe it,” the former glamor gal said, “but because its on the internet, people don’t care, it’s fair game, it’s actually your fault.”
Determined to find a motive behind the heinous attention, Davies tracked down reformed New York scammer Aku, who was recruited by a catfishing ring at the ripe age of 13.
“E-whoring is fraud. You’re scamming people and looking to exploit people for your own financial gain,” he said, adding that he eventually “gave up on it” out of guilt.
Nonetheless, the ID-theft economy remains strong. The “When Nudes Are Stolen” team even uncovered an intricate online curriculum dedicated to teaching sleaze merchants how to amass images, and even the people most likely to fall prey to scam.
“It weighs heavy on my mind. There are people out there using these pictures to scam people, and it feels like there’s nothing I can do about it,” said Davies.
She says internet Samaritans can hopefully make a dent by saying, “Hey, that’s not cool. I don’t think that’s right. Maybe you should delete that. That’s where we can start.”
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