Scandal on Reddit: students made money on fake photos of intimate pictures
In the spring of 2023, a shocking scandal occurred on the popular Reddit forum with the sale of fake intimate photos. The Rolling Stone journalists talked about how two computer science students created an account in the name of a fictitious girl named Claudia and published several photos on the r/normalnudes and r/amihot subreddits.
The students used the Stable Diffusion neural network to create photos of a non-existent girl and invited users to private messages for those who want to see more candid photos. However, it soon became clear that Claudia did not exist and that it was a hoax.
The students said they did it “as a joke” and were inspired by a story about how a redditor made $500 by selling pictures of real women online. Some users actually turned to Claudia, offering to pay for more candid shots. In total, the students earned about $100 before they were exposed.
One Reddit user who has worked extensively with the Stable Diffusion neural network noticed that the photos were created using AI. The students carefully planned their posts on Reddit ahead of time, posting some candid confessions on the r/SluttyConfessions subreddit on behalf of Claudia to make their story more believable.
This scandal caused a wide resonance on the Internet and reminded users to be careful when communicating with strangers online.