James Blake lost his identity to identity theft after disclosing every detail of his life on social media.
While fighting to regain his identity, he became involved in organized crime.
Who is James Blake?
James Blake is a Lisburn-based businessman.
He founded and served as CEO of the international digital marketing company VINDICTA after graduating from Fort Hill Integrated College with A-Levels.
One of the “Top 5 young business people in Northern Ireland” was James, in 2022.
He had more than 53,000 Instagram followers as of October 2023.
In addition to a few selfies, his page features behind-the-scenes photos from his most recent endeavors.
His account can be accessed with the login @mrjamesblake.
What happened when James Blake’s identity was stolen?
Before thieves stole his Instagram accounts, James was the Instagram dream come true.
It all began when he got a notification claiming that his name and image were being used by someone else on a phony account, which was not his.At first, he thought it was funny, but soon, hundreds of followers were following more intricate accounts that used all of his photographs.
There were photos of his family, friends, and car on the accounts.
When he started receiving messages from others who had lost money due to scams, things started to become worse.
The profiles could be found on dating websites he had never heard of as well as on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, Quora, and Facebook.
He would wake up almost every day to see countless messages from ladies who
A fraudulent WhatsApp profile even shared a picture of a forged passport with James’s personal information with one of the victims.
James, in his quest to regain his identity, came upon a sinister new wave of organized crime in which sophisticated technology is used by gangs to prey on older women and defraud them of their money.
When did James Blake meet the victims of the scam?
James got to know a few of the ladies who had fallen for the false profiles while filming his BBC Three series, Hunting The Catfish Crime Gang.
When he went to the park to visit one of the victims, he said to the BBC, “I don’t get nervous very often, but I was really anxious – I was well aware of the impact this would have had on their life.”
To witness the millions of pounds invested in these companies’ infrastructure, he had to travel all the way to Thailand.
James found that those who participate in these frauds are frequently also victims, having been forced to comply with requests after being trafficked.
BBC Three’s Hunting the Catfish Crime Gang is scheduled to premiere on Monday, October 23, 2023, at 9 p.m.
The following day at 10.40 p.m. on BBC One, it will also air.
