A 23-year-old Texas man, Andrew Venegas, is facing federal charges for allegedly orchestrating a large-scale sextortion scheme involving over a thousand victims across the United States, including minors. The FBI alleges Venegas, operating under the alias "Starkylol" and using a fake female profile picture, coerced women and girls into providing explicit content by threatening to publicly release their existing nude images. The alleged offenses began in 2022.

Venegas allegedly advertised and sold the illicit content on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, specifically highlighting images of minors. Authorities believe he gained access to some victims' nude images by hacking into their accounts, including Snapchat. The complaint states some victims reported their images were taken from their Snapchat accounts without permission.

The investigation began when authorities discovered a website containing explicit images of women, many of whom reported their content was posted without consent. One message attributed to Venegas threatened a victim, claiming access to their Snapchat account and threatening to share their content unless they provided additional explicit material.

The FBI defines "sextortion" as threatening to distribute private and sensitive material in exchange for sexual images, favors, or money. Several victims reported being contacted by individuals threatening to share their images with loved ones unless they provided more explicit content. Law enforcement identified several apparent minors among the victims depicted in the shared images. One message to a minor victim demanded two more explicit images in exchange for being left alone.

Investigators found over 1,000 different women's images, often accompanied by their real names, on a second related website. A minor identified in a video on Venegas' Telegram account was reportedly being extorted to perform the sexual acts depicted. Messages on the "Starkylol" account boasted about the ease of obtaining such images from victims.

Undercover FBI agents posed as buyers on Telegram and purchased a package advertised as containing content involving college students, blackmail, and minors. Though the download was interrupted, agents obtained some images organized into folders labeled with the victims' names. One victim's payment to have her images removed was traced to a cryptocurrency account linked to Venegas.

During a search of Venegas' residence, agents confirmed his connection to the "Starkylol" account by sending messages from an undercover Telegram account that appeared on Venegas’s phone. Venegas is scheduled for a court appearance.