CONCORD — A New Hampshire lawmaker who represents part of the Upper Valley says he called the FBI recently to report an attempt to extort money from him after he fell prey to an apparent online scheme.
State Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, said in a social media post Monday morning that what he thought was a woman he had developed a friendship with online made threats and demanded “significant sums of money” after he attempted to end their relationship.
Giuda, 68, said the relationship lasted for two months and included private conversations and the sharing of “inappropriate” photographs after they met in an online chat site.
“This incident has truly shaken me. I’m speaking out about this first to apologize to my friends and family for any embarrassment I may have caused them,” he wrote on Facebook. “There are no words I can use to describe the mental anguish I’ve suffered because of this over the past two months.”
Giuda said feelings of “sadness and loneliness” stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and not being able to see his wife, Christine, led him to turn to a chat site for company.
Christine Giuda, a former Navy nurse, suffered a massive brain hemorrhage one month into her husband’s first term in 2016. Since then, she’s been in a persistent vegetative state and lives in a facility dedicated to those with acute brain injuries.
Giuda said the pandemic has prevented him from making the 104-mile trip to visit his wife for nearly six months. Online, he said, he was able to meet a friend.
However, when Giuda realized the relationship was going “places I didn’t want it to go,” he ended it.
“What I thought was two new friends having conversations about their similar life experiences in their lives shared was in fact an extortion scam,” he wrote.
Giuda said the threats made were violent, continued to escalate, and also targeted his wife, and so he went to the FBI for help. In his Facebook post, he said investigators are now looking into the matter.
Giuda declined to comment further on the matter Tuesday.
The FBI in April said it was seeing an increase in online extortion cases as people across the country began working from home.
“Because large swaths of the population are staying at home and likely using the computer more than usual, scammers may use this opportunity to find new victims and pressure them into sending money,” the federal law enforcement agency said in a public service announcement.
The FBI recommends people never send compromising images of themselves to anyone, refrain from opening attachments from people they don’t know, and turn off electronic devices and webcams when they’re not using them.
Giuda, a retired airline and Marine fighter pilot, is completing his second term representing Senate District 2. The 26-town district stretches from the northern Upper Valley to the Lakes Region and includes the towns of Haverhill, Piermont, Orford, Orange and Dorchester.
He’s currently running for reelection against Plymouth Democrat Bill Bolton, a former state registrar and director of the Division of Vital Records Administration.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.