Number of cyber extortion cases involving foreign female suspects up 5—fold

SINGAPORE: The number of cyber extortion cases involving foreign female suspects has gone up.

Police said last year more than 50 such cases were reported — up from the 11 such cases reported for the whole of 2011.

In each case, suspects attempted to extort money from the victims after threatening to post photographs or videos of the victims online following a cybersex session over webcam.

The female foreign suspects would usually get acquainted with the male victims via social networking websites like Tagged.com or Facebook.

Thereafter, they would start a webcam conversation with the victims and initiate cybersex by undressing themselves first before persuading the male victims to appear nude or perform sexual acts in front of the webcams.

Unknown to the victims, the suspects had recorded the acts.

These suspects would then threaten to circulate compromising photographs and videos of the victims to extort money from them.

The public is advised to take preventive measures when interacting online, including being wary of messages from unknown people who want to be friends.

Also, if anyone attempts to extort money from you or should you become a victim of such an attempt, call the police immediately.

— CNA/ck