Cyber police detain man suspected of blackmailing students through social media

Cyber police have detained a 25-year-old man suspected of distributing AI-manipulated photos and videos of university students and subsequently demanding money to remove them from social media platforms.

The Azerbaijani Interior Ministry told Report that the suspect was identified as Ilkin Nahmadov.

The operation was carried out by officers of the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for Combating Cybercrime.

The investigation established that Nahmadov downloaded photos and videos of students from various universities from TikTok and Instagram, then manipulated them using artificial intelligence software.

He subsequently added insulting and defamatory captions to the images and posted the resulting content on fake social media accounts he had created. The man then demanded money from the students in exchange for removing the posts.

The Main Directorate for Combating Cybercrime has launched a criminal investigation. The investigation is ongoing.