Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Cyber blackmail leads to 4 deaths
International gangs of organised criminals are targeting more and more young men by luring them into potentially compromising positions, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
The number of people reporting financially-motivated cyber-enabled blackmails more than doubled from 385 in 2015 to 864 up to November 2016. That number has risen from nine in 2011.
Sextortion is a form of blackmail where criminals use fake identities to befriend victims online — using websites such as Facebook, Skype or Linkedin — before persuading them to perform sexual acts in front of their webcam.
The i mages are recorded by the criminals who then threaten to share them with the victims’ friends and family unless they accede to their demands for payment.
The NCA and the National Police Chiefs’ Council have launched a new campaign to advise those who have been, or are likely to be, targeted.
It includes a film aimed at the most vulnerable victims, helping them to recognise a potential criminal approach and providing online advice, i ncluding the importance of reporting the crime to their local police.
National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for kidnap and extortion and adult sexual offences, Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, said: “It is in response to a really worrying emerging threat in terms of what we call sextortion.
“The really key point is that as a result of this criminality we have had four young men who have killed themselves because they saw no way out of a situation that they had got into.
“Firstly, we are providing information to police forces to better equip them to deal with these crimes when they are reported.
“Perhaps more important is a public awareness campaign to make not only potential victims but all those around them aware of what is a very damaging and invidious crime.”
The NCA said the victims are aged between 14 and 82, with the highest proportion being men aged between 21 and 30, and with a substantial proportion in the 11-20 age group.
The NCA’s advice to any potential targets is: “Do not panic, do not pay, do not communicate and preserve evidence.”
FOUR men killed themselves in the last year after being blackmailed as part of an increasing cyber “sextortion” racket.
QUIZ ANSWERS: 1.Yuri Gagarin. 2.Vostok 1. 3. Liver. 4. Candela. 5. Robert Oppenheimer. 6. Evangelista Torricelli. Missing link: CHAIR.