Young Woman in Athens Victim of Online Abuse: Her Photos and Number End Up in Fake Ads for Intimate Services

The personal data of a young woman living in Athens has been abused online, after an unknown individual created a fake ad for paid meetings, placing her photos and her real phone number in it.

The problem became apparent when her phone began ringing non-stop – calls and messages from unknown numbers flooded her life day after day, from people convinced that she was providing paid sex services.

The clarification came from one of those who contacted her, who told her that he had come across her data in an ad posted on a portal with erotic content.

After verifying it herself, the young woman discovered that someone had set up a fake account with her photos, downloaded from the profiles she keeps on social networks, which were circulating along with her private number, exposed without any consent from her.

Immediately after the discovery, she turned to the administration of the site where the ad was published and requested its removal without delay.

She also sent an official written complaint via email, but the response did not come immediately. According to Greek media, about three days passed before the initial ad was removed from the platform.

However, her ordeal did not end with the removal of the first posting.

Meanwhile, the fake ad had been copied and redistributed on at least three other online portals, forcing the young woman to begin a new battle: deleting every copy, one after another, from the sites where it had spread.

The more the material circulated, the more complicated the effort to completely cleanse the internet of it became, while the unwanted calls and messages continued to cause her daily distress.

So far, the creator of the fake profile remains unidentified.

The young woman has sought legal protection and has filed a complaint against unknown persons, with the aim of uncovering the hidden hand behind the theft of her photos and number.

In parallel with the procedure to identify the perpetrator, she has also taken legal steps against the site where the ad first appeared, seeking compensation for what she endured.

The case has turned public attention to the risks of personal data abuse in the virtual space and to the obligation of platforms to respond without delay as soon as such postings are reported.

What happened to this young woman proves that the unauthorized use of one’s image and contact number can bring serious consequences to a person’s private life, especially when the material spreads across many channels and becomes almost impossible to eliminate completely.