B.C. woman's sextortion claim dismissed after image found to be lookalike
The Reddit app icon is seen on a smartphone in a Feb. 28, 2023, file image. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
A damages claim from a B.C. woman allegedly targeted in a sextortion attempt has been dismissed – after the purported blackmail material turned out to depict a lookalike, of sorts.
The woman told the province's Civil Resolution Tribunal her ex-boyfriend tried coercing her into having sex with him by threatening to share a compromising image of her if she refused.
The image features two people 'engaged in sexual intercourse' but does not show their faces, according to the tribunal's decision, which was published online this week.
The decision does not name the woman or her ex, for privacy reasons.
The woman sought $5,000 in damages under B.C.'s Intimate Images Protection Act (IIPA), but the case fell apart after the ex-boyfriend revealed the picture was not actually her.
'Instead, he said it was a screenshot of a couple from an adult film on Reddit,' tribunal member Megan Stewart wrote, in her June 3 decision.
The claimant accepted that was the case – despite seeing a 'strong resemblance' between the body of the woman in the image and her own – after she was able to track down the original video.
But she continued to pursue damages against her ex-boyfriend over the allegation he had tried 'forcing her to meet him for sex,' according to the decision.
Stewart ultimately dismissed the claim, noting that for a case like hers to be successful under the IIPA, the law is clear that the image must 'depict' the victim – which the tribunal member said she 'had trouble concluding' in these circumstances.
'While (the woman) initially said she was certain the image was of her because of an identifying birthmark, she later acknowledged it was not,' Stewart wrote.
The tribunal member added there was no 'suggestion or evidence' that the ex-boyfriend had altered the image to make it resemble the woman, or shared it anywhere while falsely representing it as her.
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