Burnaby RCMP are asking the public to be cautious following an uptick in sextortation scams over the past few months.
According to police, they have investigated 24 reports of sextortation since May.
In a release Wednesday, Mounties broke down two different scenarios.
In the first, the victim gets an unsolicited friend request on social media. Then, the suspect will start talking to the victim and try to take the conversation to video chat.
The suspect then asks the victim to engage in sexual activity or nudity and then shuts off the video chat, telling the victim they have a recording.
The suspect then threatens to release the video unless the victim makes a payment.
In the second scenario, the victim receives an unsolicited email from someone claiming to have explicit or pornographic video of them.
The suspect threatens to send the video to everyone on the victim’s contact list unless the victim makes a payment.
RCMP are warning the public to be careful online and to always keep in mind that their actions might be recorded.
If you receive a sextortation threat, police say you should:
-
Not comply with any threat
-
Stop all forms of communication with the individual
-
Keep the correspondence you have had with the individual
-
Report the incident to police immediately
