Underwear theft, harassment, humiliation… He impersonated a woman for seven years to flirt with strangers online

Il a usurpé l’identité d’une femme pendant sept ans pour draguer des inconnus en ligne (photo d'illustration). tongpatong – ENVATO ELEMENTS

An American man has pleaded guilty to a seven-year cyberbullying campaign that included using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to impersonate a university professor and invite men online to his home for sex.

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James Florence, 36, used the victim's personal and professional information, whose identity was kept confidential, to create fake social media profiles and engage in sexual dialogue with users, reports The Guardian, spotted by BFM.

The case, brought in federal court in Massachusetts, is believed to be the first in which a stalker has been charged with using a chatbot—a computer tool that allows people to create conversations with people online—to impersonate their victim to facilitate his crimes.

He pleads guilty

James Florence has agreed to plead guilty to seven counts of cyberstalking and one count of possession of child pornography.

The victim, a former friend of the stalker, was unaware of the incident. According to court documents seen by The Guardian, the perpetrator divulged very personal information about the victim, such as her hobbies, her usual attire, her husband's name, the date of her mother's death. He even went so far as to steal underwear from the victim's home and post it online.

Other victims

The harassment took place between 2017 and 2024 and escalated to the point that the victim and her husband told law enforcement they felt unsafe, according to court documents cited by the British media outlet. They feared that a perpetrator or someone who had seen the messages would show up at their home.

James Florence also allegedly targeted six other women and a 17-year-old girl, digitally altering their photos to depict them as nude or semi-nude, The Guardian reports.