Pennsylvania Woman Accused of Using Deepfake Technology to Harass Cheerleaders
Pennsylvania Woman Accused of Using Deepfake Technology to Harass Cheerleaders
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Three teenagers in a Bucks County cheerleading program were subjected to a campaign of harassment using altered videos and spoof phone numbers, police officials said.The 50-year-old mother of a teenager involved in a cheerleading program was charged with three counts of cyber-harassment of a child and three other counts of harassment. Credit...Getty ImagesMarch 14, 2021Three teenagers, members of a cheerleading program in Bucks County, Pa., received a series of harassing text messages over the course of last summer. So did their parents and the owners of the gym where they practiced.Some of the anonymous messages contained doctored images and videos that attempted to incriminate the teenagers with fake depictions showing some of them nude, drinking alcohol or vaping. At times, the text messages took an even darker turn, telling at least one girl to die by suicide.On March 4, the mother of another teenager in the cheerleading program was arrested and charged with sending the messages, apparently using deepfake technology to add likenesses of the girls to incriminating images, law enforcement officials said.In an arrest affidavit, the Hilltown Township Police Department in Bucks County accused Raffaela Marie Spone, 50, of cyberbullying three teenagers she knew at the Victory Vipers cheerleading gym in Doylestown, Pa., about 35 miles north of Philadelphia. Police officials said that over the summer, Ms. Spone had sent anonymous text messages from several fake phone numbers to the cheerleaders, their parents and the gym owners.ImageRaffaela Marie Spone was arrested but released on the condition that she appear at a preliminary hearing on March 30.Credit...Bucks County Sheriff's OfficeThe police suspect that the altered media was created through deepfake technology, which is becoming both more sophisticated and accessible, playing into experts’ concerns that it can be used to harass or commit crimes. With deepfake technology, people can take a still image and map it onto an existing video to disparagingly alter the appearance of someone.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT