A warning has been issued after several victims were duped into performing sexual acts on camera.
Cheshire Police said on the Warrington Police Facebook page they had been contacted recently by several people of online 'sextortion' fraud, which police said is on the rise.
The scam, often run by criminal gangs, targets victims by luring them into an online sexual relationship with someone they believe to be genuine.
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However, the gangs aim is to entrap the victim by tricking them into performing "sexual acts" in front of a webcam.
Unknown to the victim, their actions are recorded by the criminals, who use the video footage in an attempt to extort cash out of them.
Police said offenders typically threaten and make demands on the victim, usually to upload video recordings to the internet, and send the footage the victim’s family, friends and employer if their demands are not met.
Another tactic used by sextortion gangs is they email a potential victim, claiming they have compromising photos or videos.
Some messages will say that the user’s computer has been hacked, allowing them to take control of the webcam.
Usually they go on to claim to have recorded the victim naked while visiting porn sites.
The email ends with a threat asking the victim to pay money or the videos will be emailed to everyone in the their address book.
Police issued the following advice to anyone who has had threats to share intimate images or video of them in an attempt to extort cash.
If you think you may be the target of online sextortion, police advise:
- Remain calm. Panicking or threatening the perpetrator may make matters worse.
- Do not give in to the sextortionist’s demands to send them money.
- Preserve all communications with the perpetrator, as well as identifying information (such as their Facebook account URL).
- Maximize all privacy restrictions on your social media/ online accounts and disable all social media accounts you do not regularly use.
- Report the sextortionist’s account by clicking their cover photo, selecting “Report Profile” and following the on-screen prompts.
- Report the suspicious activity to https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
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