Federal prosecutors in New York have charged 21-year-old Anthony Belford with cyberstalking after he allegedly used AI tools to create fake nude images of a female college student and then spread them online and to her family. Between January and March 2025, Belford created fake accounts on Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, X, Strava, and Yahoo to impersonate the victim. He sent one AI-generated image directly to her mother’s email using a spoofed address, and posted another as the profile photo on a fake LinkedIn account in her name.
He also fabricated screenshots claiming the victim had made racist and anti-Muslim comments, then spread them online to damage her reputation. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg called it out plainly: “Cyberstalking and other forms of online abuse, just like physical violence, can ruin lives and disrupt communities.” This case is a reminder that AI image tools are increasingly being weaponized for harassment — and that federal law now explicitly covers AI-generated intimate images shared without consent, not just real photos.