Sextortion Frauds
These types of frauds can take place both against male and female victims (although majority of the victims are primarily
females) and the perpetrator can be both an unknown person or a known one. In such crimes, the culprit usually entices and induces the victim
to share their private and nude photographs or videos over phone, which are then stored and saved by the former for future extortion
(sextortion).
In a lot of cases, people come in contact with unknown persons through dating apps or even matrimonial websites/apps.
The profiles that they connect with, are mostly fake. The person behind the profile is actually a criminal whose main motive is to extort
money from the victim. These fake profiles are deliberately made to look very attractive so that people fall prey to this scam easily.
The persons who operate these fake profiles first talk to the victims normally for a few days and then induces them to share their
intimate/nude pictures and videos with them. Once the criminal has access to these private pictures and/or videos, he starts extorting the
sender for money, sometimes up to several lakhs claiming that in case the victim does not pay up, he will upload their pictures/videos on
the internet or share those with his/her relatives, family and friends.
In a new variant of this Modus Operandi, a lot of people (mostly men) are being contacted on Instagram recently by
women with attractive profiles, who immediately ask them for a sex chat or a nude video call. When the person agrees to it, they record the
entire episode and start blackmailing/extorting the victim for money threatening to share the video with his relatives and friends.
This crime can also be committed by someone known to the victim and with whom the victim has had an intimate relationship.
Sometimes, such people get access to or clandestinely obtain private pictures/videos of the victim and then, when the relationship ends,
they use it to extort money from the victim.
Safety Precautions:
1. Please remember – the internet never forgets or forgives. If you have shared something once, it will remain present
on the Net forever, in one form or the other.
2. Secondly, the reach and speed of the internet is enormous. In a short span of time, the offensive content can spread
to millions of people. Therefore, it is very important that under no circumstances, nothing that could, if leaked into the public domain,
cause harm or embarrassment at a later stage, should be posted, shared, transmitted, recorded, etc.
3. During an online interaction or chat, if the person on the other side is trying to rush through the things and develop intimacy,
then it is cause of alarm.
4. Never allow anyone, howsoever close that person may be, to capture any private part or intimate activity with any device.
Such a data can be misused at a later stage causing serious harm or damage to reputation to the victim.
