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A 32-year-old man altered a vacation photo of two sisters in Thailand, making it look as if they were topless, and then sent the manipulated image to them via Facebook, according to court documents from his case in New South Wales.
Accompanying the doctored image were explicit messages to each sister, in which he threatened to publish the photos online unless they provided him with actual explicit images.
“Respond or you will regret it,” warned the sales assistant in the messages detailed in the court records.
The man employed a similar tactic to target a mother and daughter. He took images from their Facebook profiles and edited them to falsely depict nudity.
This act falls under “sextortion,” a form of extortion where someone is coerced into compliance through threats of releasing private or sexual content.
Another woman received a number of very graphic descriptions of Jomaa’s fantasies about her along with a demand to perform a sex act for him.
He was motivated to extort intimate images out of the victims for his own sexual gratification, police say.
The 32-year-old has admitted targeting eight women over seven months, leaving them deeply concerned the deepfake photos would be published online.
According to the agreed facts, the edited photos appear real and would not arouse suspicion.
Jomaa faced Gosford District Court today after pleading guilty to 17 offences, including eight counts of using a carriage service to send sexual material knowing the recipient did not consent.
He was expected to face sentencing but the matter was adjourned to allow the magistrate to read all of the relevant information.
The Ettalong Beach resident will instead learn his fate in April.
After previously defying attempts to photograph him, he ducked his head and attempted to obscure his identity as he entered and exited the courthouse.
When Jomaa was arrested in May, police found all of the photos – both edited and original – in a hidden folder on his phone.
He was charged two months before the NSW government introduced a bill to specifically ban AI-generated sexual imagery.
Under the laws, editing a photo to create an intimate image of someone while being reckless as to their consent carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment.