Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Young men exposed to online extortion

VANCOUVER -- Four young men who exposed their genitals online in separate incidents became targets of alleged extortion attempts by people claiming to be women in different countries over the past month, Richmond, BC, RCMP said Monday.

Cpl. Stephanie Ashton said in a statement the men were all participating in online chats, videotaped and asked to wire money to stop the footage from being sent to friends and family.

None of the alleged victims sent money, but Mounties are asking the public to make "better choices" about what they share online.

"Each time the chat led to the male exposing himself during the chat via webcam," Ashton said. "In all cases the men were then told to provide money through Western Union in order to avoid having the videos sent to their friends and family on Facebook."

Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon called the scam "extremely unusual," adding the cases police are investigating are likely only the tip of a lucrative scam.  (more...)

No comments:

Post a Comment