West Cork Woman’s Ordeal with Image-Based Sexual Abuse Featured on New TV Show
A West Cork woman who bravely faced a horrific campaign of image-based sexual abuse will be sharing her story on a new TV program examining online scams.
Alicia O’Sullivan, a UCC law student set to graduate next week, was the victim of an attack that saw images, purported to be of her, circulated online. The perpetrators used her identity to create a fake Instagram account and attempted to make money through online subscriptions, claiming to have explicit photos and videos of Alicia.
The Impact of Sextortion
“In April 2021 I was a victim of a version of image-based sexual abuse,” Ms. O’Sullivan said.
“I woke up and found I had had a fake Instagram account made in my name, basically someone had posted images that weren’t of me but they were trying to make it look they were of me.
“They had also set up an online subscription page where people would have to see what was behind a paywall, they were trying to make it seem like there were all these photos and videos that were of me, they weren’t they were of someone else.”
“The technical word for it is sextortion, where someone is using your image or your identity in a sexual way to make money.”
Ms. O’Sullivan describes how, initially, she felt her complaint was not taken seriously. After finding someone who would listen and help her, she launched a campaign to raise awareness.
“I then got someone to take me seriously and then started the campaign off the back of that,” Ms. O’Sullivan said.
Fighting Back with Safety Over Stigma
Ms. O’Sullivan will discuss her experience on ‘Real Life with Lucy’, a program hosted by Lucy Kennedy. She founded an organization called Safety Over Stigma, dedicated to:
- Raising awareness of image-based sexual abuse
- Educating young people about digital literacy, online safety and reporting crimes
- Holding social media companies accountable for the abuse happening on their platforms
- Pushing for legislative changes to protect victims
“We have also worked on trying to get social media companies to take more responsibility and we have done a lot of legislative work on that as well.
The program also explores various other online scams, including money mules and victims of fake text message scams. “Scams like these happen increasingly, so it’s important to raise awareness of them,” said Ms O’Sullivan.
A Frightening Reality for Parents and Children
Host Lucy Kennedy expressed deep concern after filming the episode on scammers.
“I think the scamming episode was the most frightening,” Ms Kennedy said.
“For me as a mum with children, with phones, it’s just so scary how these scammers can access mobile phones.”
’Real Life with Lucy’ airs on Virgin Media One at 9pm on Mondays.
Learn more about image-based sexual abuse and digital safety resources by visiting Safety Over Stigma.