Virtual lover troll an American on the Internet and must now pay her $ 9 million

Фото: Depositphotos

At the start of 2015, Washington resident Courtney Allen and her husband, Stephen, faced attacks from an unknown Internet troll.

According to the magazine Wiredin every way he mocked the girl, using the data that she and her boyfriend published on the Internet. The police was powerless in front of a hacker, and his pinpoint attacks soon brought the victim to deep stress.

Who was behind the attacks

"Do you think I'll ever disappear from your life?" Now that my private detectives have found so much information? There is not a single job for you or Stephen that I wouldn’t have learned about, ”said one of the voice messages sent by Allen.

Almost from the very beginning of the attacks, she suspected that an Arizona resident Todd Zonis was behind them. Allen met him on the Internet and at first she was just friends. But when the girl's husband began to disappear at work, she began to show a romantic interest in Zonis. The interlocutors never met in person and communicated only on the Internet.

Allen and Zonis began to send each other erotic photos and videos. A married girl often told a friend on the internet about her life and problems.

When Stephen accidentally saw the correspondence, he quarreled with his wife. Allen was angry that her husband had read her private messages, but she did not stop communicating with Zonis, but simply put the password on the phone.

This went on for more than a year - until November 2014. One day, Allen accidentally forgot to block her smartphone, and Stephen saw that she continued to correspond with Zonis. Angry, he found his parents' contacts and complained to them.

When Allen found out that her husband had climbed into her phone again, she forbade him to return home. He violated the ban, after which his wife left with her son to their parents. The next day, the girl returned to the apartment, but slept with her husband on different beds. And then announced plans to file for divorce. At the cost of long disputes, the couple managed to agree and not to part.

Despite the whole situation, before the end of 2014, Allen was in touch with Zonis. Then she decided to break off contact with a friend on the Internet, as he began to be rude to her often.

How did the Internet troll

He published photos from nude Allen in the public domain, including one of the shots put on the avatar in the fake profile on Facebook.

Created in Google Plus account Allen with her personal and contact information. He repeated the same thing with her 4 year old son.

He sent emails to Allen, where he insulted her and threatened to kill her. Also sent an e-mail to her colleagues at work photos and videos where the naked victim masturbates.

Called the secretary and colleagues Allen to work and rudely demanded a "whore" to the phone. I called her husband's grandmother and warned that the house of an elderly woman could burn if her grandson did not divorce.

He told the police that Stephen regularly beats up his wife, keeps a large collection of weapons at home and started two big dogs. Later, the patrolmen who interviewed the couple suggested that the last two statements were made in order to provoke the police to take a hard approach to Stephen.

Anonymously complained to the police about Allen, claiming that she beat an 4-year-old son. He sent her a large packet of marijuana to the post office and told the police that she was selling drugs to schoolchildren.

Investigation of specialists

In March, 2015, after three months of attacks, the pair reported on the situation to the FBI. The agency began searching for the offender, but took no active steps.

In parallel with this, the spouses turned to cyber specialists for help in the investigation. They found that some of the accounts from which the attacks were being made were visited by Zonis or the one who was sitting at his computer. All this time, messages and threats continued to come Allen.

Cyber ​​experts suggested that the attacker could easily find out most of the information about the victim from her accounts in social networks.

Relying on evidence from experts, in July 2015, Allen filed a lawsuit against Zonis for prosecution. He denied the charges and filed a counterclaim against Stephen. After that, the FBI agents came to the spouses and asked to withdraw the statement against Zonis. Department officials explained that the man has evidence that Stephen was molested by his wife Jennifer.

The controversial situation was resolved in court. In March, 2017, Zonis was convicted of harassment and intimidation. The judge ordered him to pay Allen nearly $ 9 million in damages. After this, the number of attacks dropped sharply, the unknown continued to send threats only to an email box.

Despite the statements of the girl, the FBI did not open a criminal case against Zonis. Now the court is considering the appeal of a man on a judicial decision, so for now he has the right not to pay Allen money.

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