Four Men Charged in Social Media Extortion Scheme

The State Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment in Tel Aviv District Court against four men accused of carrying out frauds against men using fake social media profiles. The defendants are Zehar Dvir, 28, of Eilat, Eitan Hassel, 20, of Ganei Tikva, Itamar Hanuna, 47, of Acre, and Lior Haken, 22, of Or Yehuda.

According to the indictment, the four, along with others involved in the scheme, posed as married women and even as a 17-year-old girl in order to deceive men and extort money from them through threats and violence. Prosecutors say the operation relied on fictitious profiles on social networks to initiate contact and build leverage over the victims.

The indictment says that in some cases the defendants carried out their threats. They allegedly created WhatsApp groups that included the men's family members, relatives, and acquaintances, and used them to spread documentation of the relationships and false claims about the men.

The purpose of those posts, according to the filing, was to humiliate and shame the victims. The case is now before the Tel Aviv District Court.