Beware of sextortion

9000 EUR “ransom”

As the police report, a 19-year-old victim received news via Instagram that there was a video in which he was naked. If he does not pay 9,000 euros, this will be forwarded to his contacts or published on the Internet.

Investigating such blackmail cases is usually difficult because the blackmailers usually operate from abroad. With sextortion, the person affected first gets to know a stranger through a social network. The affected person and the stranger chat with each other. The aim is to get the potential victim to undress in front of their webcam and perform sexual acts on themselves. The perpetrators then quickly redirect the communication to a video call and then threaten to distribute the video.

Sextortion recommendation

In order not to become a victim of this “sextortion” blackmail scam, we give the following recommendations

• Never accept friend requests from strangers.
• Check your account and privacy settings regularly.
• Be cautious about publishing personal information such as address, date of birth or employer.
• Don't agree to a video chat too quickly. If in doubt: first tape off the chat camera so that you can only communicate verbally and observe what is happening.
• Do not consent to exposure or intimate acts in video chats if you have only known the person for a short time.
• Always keep the operating and virus protection systems on your online devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets or computers up to date to protect yourself from malicious software, so-called malware. There is malware that can easily activate your webcam and use it to film you at any time.

If you have been a victim of this scam:

If blackmail has already occurred, the following course of action is recommended:

• Do not transfer money. The blackmail usually doesn't stop after the payment.
• Report it to the police.
• Contact the site operator and request that the images be deleted. Inappropriate content can be reported to the site operator using buttons specially set up for this purpose.
• Stop contact with the anonymous person immediately and do not respond to messages.
• Save chat histories and messages using screenshots.

source

Nordhausen State Police Inspectorate

Also read: Sexpressing: From harmless flirtation to organized blackmail