Poker media figure Brent Harrington being blackmailed by fake account who got him to send sexual videos

https://twitter.com/BrentHarrington/...00243305582592

https://twitter.com/BrentHarrington/...91702104608779


Harrington used to work for Pokernews, and at one point was co-host on their podcast.

He also plays poker recreationally.

While he isn't being totally specific, it appears by reading between the lines that some fake chick engaged him in sexy talk, he sent potentially embarrassing sexual videos to "her", and then the person turned around and attempted to blackmail him. It seems they were threatening to distribute the videos directly to his Twitter followers if he didn't pay up. He chose to simply warn Twitter and refuse to pay, which is understandable. My guess is that it's a man behind the account, perhaps someone from a foreign country.

Obviously Harrington did nothing wrong here, aside from being a bit gullible regarding sending sexual videos to unknown strangers. He should have consulted Gavin Griffin before doing this.

Some were urging him to report it to authorities, so he went and submitted a complaint on the FBI's Internet Crimes portal. However, that portal is basically useless, as almost everything sent there is ignored, espeically internet blackmail stuff. It's just there to make people feel good that they can reach the FBI in some way, and report when a Nigerian scams them. He'd do way better by going to the local authorities.

Story time: I was catfished one time, however it ended up not being anything super nefarious

When I was a teenager, myspace was a big hit. One of the appealing things of Myspace was you were able to customize your page via HTML.

I ran a small page where I would write HTML codes for people to copy/paste to their page. So I had random people adding that page frequently that I didnt know. However it wasn't under my real name.

A girl by the name of Amber Blanchard added me. She was a hot petite blonde from Columbus Ohio. Approximately a 4 hour drive from where I'm from.

Our personalities instantly clicked and we ended up talking quite a bit and I added her on my personal page and we spent several hours on the phone over the next week.

I was hesitant on if she was real, and she insured me she was. I asked her to take a picture holding something that said "Hi AhoosierA" (my real name)....she produced the picture within a day or 2.

She stated she was a freshman in college and i looked her up and their was a picture on a page of 8-10 students with their name listed at the bottom. The name under the picture matched the girl in the picture from the Myspace page.

Over the next 6 months we'd flirt back and forth, however I didn't have a car to go see her, and she claimed to not have a reliable enough car to come see me.

Our talking died down a bit over the next year and we'd only talk occasionally, as I had started dating another girl.

Once that relationship was over, me and Amber picked up right where we left off. I had a car now and constantly pressured her into us meeting. She'd agree, however she'd start a fight a few days before me going to visit her and she would ignore me until after the day came and went.

Finally after several months she agreed to come see me. She offered to come spend New Years of 2006, going into 2007 with me. My friends and I were going to be going to a night club (18+) and she wanted to go. She even insisted that I go ahead and prepay for her ticket. As it was like $20 cheaper if you prepaid rather than pay at the door.

I was super excited, and finally the day came. She messages me that she's getting ready and sends me a picture of herself getting ready....later she sends me a message that she's on her way.

2 hours pass and I call her to see where she's at....no answer.

Another 15-20 minutes....no answer.

Over the next 3-4 hours I've called multiple times and can't get ahold of her. She never shows up.

I speak with her 2 days later, and she claims that she was on her way and got a call that her Grandma was hospitalized and she turned around to go see her grandma. That she left her phone in the car and how dare I be pissed off.....

I had enough at this point and told her to fuck off.

Fast forward to 2011. I was living in Cincinnati Ohio and was now on Facebook.

I get a random friend request from this girl. I accept it and we start chatting.

She expresses heavy interest in wanting to meet me. I told her I was skeptical but whe was very adamant. So I told her I'd meet her at a mall.

Before she came, she tried to make me promise that I wouldn't be mad at her, but that she had something that she wanted to admit to me and that she's felt bad about it for years.

I didn't agree, but still told her I'd meet her in public.

My brother and myself go to a mall near our house and I'm to meet her in the food court.

As I walk into the food court, I hear a familiar voice....."Hi AhoosierA" as I look over, I see this over weight black girl.

I say...hello? She said, "it's me, Amber"

I was like, what the fuck? This has to be a joke.

I end up sitting there and talking to her.

Amber Blanchard was her real name (she showed me her ID)

She told me that the plot started when she and her friend were pictured in a school printing, but the printing got their names mixed up and they thought it would be funny to "change identities" on Myspace.....so she used her real name, but pictures of her friend, and her friend would post pictures of the real Amber, using the friends real name.

She said that after time, she really got to like me but knew I wouldn't be attracted to the real her, so she couldn't bring herself to tell me the truth. She said over the years she constantly thought about me, but again was afraid of telling me the truth and just didnt contact me.

Finally she stole pictures off her old friends Facebook page and created another "fake" facebook account (using her real name but her friends pictures) to convince me to meet her so she could tell me the truth in person.

She was hoping that some how meeting her in person, that I would have sympathy for her and get over her looks and remember all the good conversations we had over the years and praise her for having the bravery to come clean.

I told her that I did appreciate her coming clean, however I didnt find her attractive and on top of that, she had lied to me for years and that I would never be able to trust her.

She was upset, but stated she understood my response and we parted ways.

A couple years later she added me on Facebook under not only her real name but her real pictures. I denied it, blocked her, and never heard from her again.

A few years ago I did look her up, she appears that she graduated college and was a physical therapist and had a child. Good for her.

Over the years, we'd have sexual conversations but surprisingly there were never any full nude photos of either of us.

Her friend had went along with the ruse for the first couple months, but after that she'd just steal photos from her friends page.

Her friend was approximately a 5'2 80-90lb Caucasian blonde.

She was a 5'5, light skinned black girl and approx 225-250. lbs.

Actually I believe you've told that story before, and posted the pic of both her and the friend.

Sucks that happened, but at least it was due to the chick having low self esteem, rather than trying to scam you.

In this case, it's likely that it was a guy behind the female account, which is obviously much more disturbing to think about.