New York man accused of harassing Georgia student with AI-generated nudes, racist messages - WDEF

A 21-year-old New York man has been indicted on federal cyberstalking charges following a months-long harassment campaign targeting a Georgia college student. Prosecutors allege the defendant used sophisticated digital tools to impersonate the victim and disseminate harmful content across social media and online forums.

What happened

Between January and March 2025, Anthony Belford allegedly created a series of fake social media accounts to target the student. According to court documents, Belford utilized AI-generated nude images of the victim and distributed them online. Beyond the use of synthetic imagery, the campaign involved a coordinated effort to ruin the victim's reputation within their own community. Belford allegedly posed as the student to send racist messages to various student groups on the victim's campus, with the explicit intent of spreading lies that the victim was a racist. Furthermore, the defendant purportedly used additional fake accounts on an online forum to direct others toward the fabricated information and harmful content he had created. On June 3, 2025, a federal jury indicted Belford on one count of cyberstalking, and he subsequently appeared in court to face the charges. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg emphasized the severity of the case, noting that online abuse can disrupt communities and ruin lives just as effectively as physical violence.