The 'curse' of Ashley Madison continues.
On Friday, another celebrity has cropped up as a paying user of the infidelity web site Ashley Madison following the release of stolen data shared online by a group of hacktivist who call themselves Impact Team.
The Daily Mail has published screenshots of Sam Rader's alleged payment to Ashley Madison for its infidelity services. Rader, known as Sam of Sam & Nia Christian blog site, appeared to have made two $189 payments in September 2013, the exact same month her second child with Nia was born.
Sam & Nia's YouTube post went viral earlier this month when Sam "surprised" his wife Nia with a positive pregnancy test. They announced they miscarried a few days later.
The screenshots also showed that Samuel Rader made another four $14 payments to the web site. In all, Rader bought 800 credits from Ashley Madison which can be used to send messages and contact other users of the site.
Shortly after the news broke, Sam and Nia released a Youtube video titled "Forgiven," where Sam admitted to opening an Ashley Madison account and issued an apology.
Registration at Ashley Madison is free but users must buy credits if they want to send messages to other users they want to connect with. According to its web site, $49 will get user 100 credits, while $250 earns 1,000 credits. It also has a money-back "affair guarantee" if users do not have an affair within three months.
According to the Daily Mail, details of Rader's alleged Ashley Madison account were shared on Twitter and the 4chan forum. The details provide Rader's name, his town of Terrell, Texas, and a zip code that matches his home address.
However, the report added that Sam's account appeared to have remained inactive after making its last payment in November 2013.
Sam is only one of the expected many names to be dragged into this latest scandal following the release of stolen Ashley Madison files.
On Wednesday, Josh Duggar of the defunct reality TV 19 Kids and Counting has confessed to struggling with a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife, Anna, amid reports he had active accounts on Ashley Madison.
Josh, 27, and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar made the startling revelation Thursday on the Duggar family website. Jim Bob and Michelle wrote, "When we learned of this late last night our hearts were broken. As we continue to place our trust in God we ask for your prayers for Josh, Anna, our grandchildren and our entire family."
In turn, Josh, who married Anna in 2008, wrote: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife."
Tech observers earlier warned that the exposure of Ashley Madison's users' information has far more reaching implications. The data breach could destroy families if a spouse learned of his wife's or her husband's infidelity.
Ashley Madison's database contains very sensitive information and its theft should serve as a wake up that people should not be tempted with a false promise or "risk-free" and secret fun. Sticking to one partner is always the safest and best option.
