His public presence on the Internet was short-lived. On April 17, a Telegram app user created a new channel that will act as a funnel to collect photos and amateur videos of women having sex. In a post he posted, which has already been read by at least 828 people, he asked for “unreleased material” to be sent to him if they needed full access.

“Introduce yourself as her or prove that she is,” he wrote in his instructions. “She must be from a real profile, not a fake one, she must be Greek or live in Greece.” He asked that the pornographic material he would receive also have photos from each woman’s social media accounts (Instagram or Facebook profile) attached so that he could make comparisons with tattoos, olives or other features and make an identification. It was not enough to have any nude photo at your disposal, it had to be accompanied by real data of the person depicted, in order to then distribute it without her consent.

“Only photos/videos in panties are not accepted,” wrote the admin. On April 18, he stated in a new post that 1,000 people had already replied and were invited to the closed group, having received the corresponding link. A day later, the channel became private, the posts were no longer visible publicly, and the admin disabled his account. However, the online journey of any photos or videos it has already collected can continue unhindered.

In the digital keyhole world, this methodology is followed by pornography dealers without consent. They post calls, constantly open and close new channels, or rename them to cover their tracks. “Drop the profiles, dudes. At 500 people, the group closes, becomes private,” writes the administrator of one of the groups marked “K”.

In early April, Wonder Women, a non-profit organization, once again received new complaints about related groups on Telegram. One of these groups had 15,000 members. Some of the women who contacted found nude or forged photos of themselves there, while others were concerned that their own images they had shared in the past with current or former partners ended up on the same site.

“Initially, victims experience incredible fear, but so do potential victims. The speed with which the digital age has entered our lives is inconsistent with the way these crimes are punished,” says Great Women founder Nefeli Hatzioannidu “K.” “There have been victims who reported to the police, and after a few months they were asked if they wanted to file a claim anonymously.”

Motives for posting this content vary. According to K.’s investigation, the administrators of some groups benefit by demanding payment for access to the materials. In other cases, materials may be sold and identification of the women may be done to dissuade them, blackmail them, or satisfy voyeuristic instincts. In the respective groups, according to police source “K”, some members often ask if someone has material from certain women they have seen on Instagram or Facebook.

“K” is aware of the price list of the administrator of the corresponding groups in Telegram. For €10 it says it gives you access to 3,000 files, for €25 it says 126GB of material, and for €50 it says 26,000 files. It also claims to provide access to 12 closed groups that include, among others, women from Thessaloniki and Crete. It asks for amounts to be paid either with a prepaid e-card or with cryptocurrencies.

Some administrators insist that identifying information about women be displayed on their social media profiles.

A police officer experienced in investigating such cases explains to K that both the victims and the traffickers or viewers of the material are mostly young, 20-25 years old, due to the popularity of specific applications in these age groups. However, in some cases, photographs of underage victims were found to be included in the materials.

In September last year, a similar incident made headlines when a link with photos and videos of 141 women’s sexual moments was circulated on an online file storage and sharing service. All one had to do was download and click on the appropriate hyperlink to access the material. Initially, there was a folder called “Patra” which resulted in 141 subfolders of files. The classification was done with great care as each subfolder matched the victim’s real name or the name he used on his social media accounts.

Six of these women, who identified themselves in a particular piece, approached a lawyer from Patras, Konstantinos Kremmidas. One of them had already filed a lawsuit in 2018 for trading in her photographs. The case was referred to the Piraeus prosecutor’s office in 2020 because that’s where the abuser was likely to be, and finally it was filed with the statute of limitations. In the end, according to Mr. Kremmidas, the six women decided not to sue, fearing they could face further harassment.

It is not clear at this time what stage the particular case is at. The first complaints against 141 women were received by the Electronic Crime Prosecutor’s Office in Athens at the end of 2021. The case was sent to the Patras Security Service to identify the victims due to the terrain. Some suspects were reportedly subpoenaed for making out-of-court statements, but it is not known if any criminal charges have been filed. However, the material in question is still available.

Recently K.’s attention was drawn to a new link leading to 141 files. It contained 1636 files (mostly photos, but also videos) with a total size of 565 MB. In some cases, the envelope contained only one photograph. But there was also one copy of the folder with 183 files. In some of the images, traffickers circled female tattoos. This practice refers to the instructions of the administrator of the respective Telegram group to identify victims on social networks.

The material has been re-uploaded to a file storage service provided by New Zealand-based Mega. Mega CEO Steven Hall tells K that the link was created on March 19, 2023 and that the user got their account and uploaded the files in January. He does not specify the identity of the person who saved this material, but says that it was a user from Greece. After the “K” was marked, the particular link was deactivated by the company and is no longer available. However, it is possible that in the future it will appear again with another user. As Hall explains, on 11/14/2022, the Greek police informed them of the original link of Patras and they immediately deactivated it. “Mega has absolutely no tolerance for illegal activity,” he stresses.

“Whatever comes up on the Internet doesn’t disappear,” Mr. Kremmidas says, pointing to the slow procedures for handling these cases, the difficulty in identifying perpetrators, and the potential for victims to re-traumatize.

Lifetime damage: what grows never goes away

The tactic used by groups on Telegram to attract new members and collect additional photos and videos is not new. The means may have changed in recent years, but not the methodology. This also follows from a case heard in October 2007 by the Supreme Court. The country’s highest court was then called upon to hear two appeals against the decision of the Athens Board of Appeal, which sent four people to the court. According to court documents, the woman complained that nude photos of her belonging to her former partner were being circulated on a website. The Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Office found that the same website also contained child pornography material filmed with a hidden camera.

The creators of the site encouraged visitors to send in their pornographic material, monthly rewarding the best image. The winner will receive free access to all content. Otherwise, they had to pay an annual fee of $90. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals of the two defendants.

Now the sharing of these files has “moved” to other types of platforms and applications. In addition to Telegram, similar content is shared on Discord, a free messaging app originally built for online gamers. Users join private groups they were invited to.

Last January, Athens’ three-member Criminal Court sentenced a man who uploaded photos of his ex-partner to the Chatpic platform to two years in prison for privacy violations and defamation. He stated in court that he posted the photos there so his new partner wouldn’t see them and that he thought the site was a place to store files. His demands were not accepted by the court, as revenge pornography is known to be widespread on the site.

The lawyer of the victim, Antonia Legaki, points out to K that the court, in its decision, did not limit itself to the violation of personal data, but ruled that the woman also suffered a personal insult. Some of these photographs later resurfaced in other locations, as reported by the victim as soon as it was seen. Her lawyer asks that, in appropriate cases, action to identify the perpetrators be more prompt.

“The damage from this offense is for life,” Ms. Legaki emphasizes, and explains that anyone who gains access to such material can save it and post it elsewhere in the future. “It is no coincidence that after Chatpic, criminals are moving their criminal behavior to Telegram, to another space that they believe will be less accessible. However, wherever they do it, it is equally criminal.”

Numbers

1636 files, mostly photos, but also 565 MB of videos related to the Patras case, were re-published last month. The link was downloaded by Mega at the suggestion of K.

26,000 files with personal moments, women claim that they can send to the manager of the Telegram channel if they pay 50 euros electronically.