Woman arrested in blackmail probe involving escort website
A WOMAN has been arrested by police investigating reports of online blackmail involving users of a Northern Ireland adult escort website.
Detectives in Antrim said they received a number of reports from men who accessed the escort website.
They were threatened that if they did not hand over money details of their contact with the escort agency would be disclosed to friends and family.
It is understood victims and their families were contacted by a person pretending to be a police officer in some cases.
The PSNI said a 31-year-old woman had been arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail. She was later released on police bail pending further investigation.
Police said that there could be many more victims who had not contacted police due to the sensitive nature of the incidents.
“This type of crime is taken extremely seriously and anyone coming to police with information can be reassured that they will be treated professionally and their information will be treated in confidence,” the PSNI said.
While the sale of sex is not a crime here, it is an offence to purchase sex.
In April the PSNI received more than 40 reports of cyber criminals attempting to extort money in scam attempts, including ‘sextortion’.
People in counties Antrim, Down, Tyrone and Londonderry were targeted by the fraudsters, many of whom demanded thousands of pounds via email.
The PSNI appealed to the public not to be duped by the extortion attempts, in which victims are told if they did not pay £2,000, X-rated or compromising photos of them would be sent to their families or images and footage of them accessing pornographic websites would be released.
Others were phishing emails where scammers told the recipient they had their password in an attempt to convince them they’re a genuine threat.
There were also reports of more traditional scams, where criminals claimed to be calling from a bank and asked for personal details.
And scammers pretended victims were due a refund after their MOT was cancelled, and that bank details were needed to complete the process.
Speaking at the time, Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said scammers will stop at nothing to dupe people and reminded the public never to give out personal or financial information to an unverified source via email or over the phone.
Anyone with information about a scam is asked to contact the PSNI on 101 or a report can be made online at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport.
You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org