Tens of thousands at risk from ‘sextortion’

POLICE have seen an explosion in ‘sextortion’ cases, with tens of thousands of people at risk of being blackmailed by criminal gangs over naked images shared online.

More than 1,300 incidents were reported by UK police forces to the National Crime Agency (NCA) last year, which is triple the number in 2015, when there were 428.

But investigators say this figure is ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ and that they believe the gangs, based mainly in the Philippines and Morocco, are making millions by targeting people in Britain.

Sextortion victims are mainly men in their teens and 20s, who are lured into letting themselves be filmed on webcams carrying out sex acts. The gangs then threaten to share the footage with the victim’s friends and family unless they are paid hundreds or thousands of pounds.

In many cases, victims are contacted through dating websites and believe they are in a genuine relationship before they are persuaded to perform sex acts online.

Roy Sinclair, from the NCA, told BBC Newsbeat: ‘Tens of thousands of people are putting themselves at risk of sextortion.’

At least five suicides have been linked to sextortion.