Here is an article in a NYC newspaper about hookers and escorts blackmailing clients. I may not be a high-profile person but I am still concerned about getting 'publicly shamed' or extorted which is why I have never done anything with the "Whats your price" website. I keep getting cold feet and would prefer I return to a country or city where seeing escorts are legal or at least where the community 'frowns' on those who deliberately publicly shame an activity between two consenting adults.
Link to article :
http://nypost.com/2016/04/04/why-hookers-only-want-high-profile-men/
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For a new breed of Manhattan hooker, the big money is no longer in sex — it’s in extortion.
Scheming prostitutes are shaking down rich and famous johns by threatening to expose their transgressions unless they cough up cash, The Post has learned.
These predators are targeting wealthy men with important reputations, from professional athletes to movie producers to finance executives, said former NYPD detective-turned-private investigator Herman Weisberg of Sage Intelligence Group.
“It’s open season on high-net-worth johns,” he said.
“I’ve been getting four or five of these cases a month over the past seven months. This is no coincidence.
“I’d attribute it to what happened with Eliot Spitzer,” Weisberg said, referring to the former governor who was targeted for a shakedown by a Russian hooker in February.
Weisberg’s entrapped clients include a noted architect, the head of a white-shoe law firm and an NFL football player.
“We have seen a tremendous uptick in Internet-based extortion cases and have put together a strong response to protect our clients,” said attorney Alex Spiro, who has handled a handful of victims of the exploding scheme, including an NFL football player.
Desperate marks are so concerned about exposure to friends, family and co-workers that they are bypassing cops and turning to their lawyers instead.
The attorneys hand over the delicate cases to specialist investigators like Weisberg, who handled David Letterman’s extortion mess for the Manhattan DA’s Office while still with the NYPD.
In one recent example, a married Manhattan CEO exchanged explicit emails with a transvestite hooker he met on Backpage.com and gave her his phone number.
The woman used that information to unmask his identity — and demanded $1,500 to clam up about their steamy exchange.
“He was terrified,” Weisberg said.
Despite never meeting his tormentor, the target forked over the money in the form American Express gift cards sent to the extorter’s post office box.
But after the hooker made a second request for $5,000, the desperate CEO contacted his attorney, who turned the case over to Weisberg.
The veteran sleuth told The Post that he has three sources of leverage: the threat of prosecution and jail time, exposing the extorter’s real name to friends and family, and leveling their reputation — and hooking prospects — online.
In the CEO case, Weisberg tracked the hooker down through his Backpage profile, arranged for a “date” last Friday in a Chinatown bar, then sternly warned that he would go to the police with an airtight case.
“I tell them they’ve already crossed over into criminal territory. I also tell them that there’s exposure I can do to them, by ruining their career, exposing them to their clients, or exposing them to their families.”
As for the transvestite hooker, “He walked away,” Weisberg said. “They always do.”
Another man who called on Weisberg’s skills had arranged to meet a petite Asian hooker he met online on Backpage.com, lured by her attractive photo.
But when he arrived at a downtown Marriott, the financier was in for a shock.
“It was a man,” Weisberg said. “He looked like a linebacker in an evening gown.”
The brute quickly snapped a cellphone picture of the two of them together, said he knew the john’s identity, and immediately asked for $1,500.
The spooked man fled and immediately contacted his attorney, who dialed up Weisberg. The investigator arranged to meet the same phantom Asian and was again greeted by a cross-dressing hulk with a ready camera.
But Weisberg leveled his threats, and the man scampered away, he said.
In another trap, a married A-list producer exchanged lurid BDSM emails with a Brooklyn woman he met on Backpage.com.
“It was very explicit, talking about how much pain can be endured,” he said. The woman simply googled his email, figured out his identity and demanded $5,000, Weisberg said.
The producer never paid up, and had Weisberg contact her. She vanished.
“These targets are well off,” Weisberg said. “They make one payment and they think that’s the end of it. But they come back a week later and ask for more money.”
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Weisberg warned, speculating that the crimes are being directed by organized rings.
Many of Weisberg’s clients were also targeted on the sites Eros.com, NewYorkEscorts.com and GFEMonkey.com.
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