Ryan Vallee convicted of stalking teenage girls for online ‘sextortion’ scheme: Web of Lies investigates

Web of Lies is in Belmont, New Hampshire, to investigate the case of Ryan Vallee, who engaged in a “sextortion” scheme by hacking into the social media accounts of teenage girls before demanding that they send nude pictures.

From 2011 to 2016, Vallee preyed on more than a dozen victims before the police and the U.S. secret service eventually stopped him in his tracks.

Vallee stalked teenage girls by making friend requests on Facebook. Once they had developed an online relationship, he would then ask them to send nude pictures of themselves. When they refused, Vallee would then blackmail them.

The twisted Vallee would then hack into and take control of his victims’ email, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. He would lock the teenage girls out of their accounts by changing the passwords. He then insisted that they send nude pictures before he’d return the accounts.

While controlling the girls’ accounts, Vallee would alter the contents and send nude pictures to his victim’s family members and friends.

On at least one occasion, Vallee also took control of a girl’s Amazon account and ordered items of a sexual nature, and had them delivered to her home.

Ryan Vallee successfully hid his true identity for years

Using various online aliases such as Seth Williams and James McRow, Vallee hid his true identity while he preyed on girls, and their friends, that he had gone to the same high school as him.

His relationship with some of the victims was so close that they even confided in him about the online attacks. He even offered to help.

Investigators first became aware of Vallee’s activities in 2013, when they identified his cellphone as the source of the threatening messages. They then gathered further information by analyzing IP addresses, time and date stamps, and registration information.

In 2016, Vallee was eventually charged with 13 counts of making interstate threats, one count of computer hacking to steal information, eight counts of computer hacking to extort, eight counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of cyberstalking. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

More from Web of Lies

Follow the links to read about more crimes profiled on Web of Lies.

William Melchert-Dinkel stalked internet suicide forums in the hope of encouraging vulnerable men and women to commit suicide for his own sick gratification. He requested that his victims hang themselves in front of a webcam.

Israel Nieves became insanely jealous when Jason Rodriguez began dating his ex-girlfriend, so he set up a fake Facebook profile to lure him to his death. The killer pretended to be a teenage girl and shot Rodriguez when he turned up for a supposed date.

Web of Lies airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.