Elderly women are sextortion targets
Police advice on beating fraudsters
CI Ian Scott, area commander for Perth and Kinross, is warning residents of scams where intimate images are shared online and then used to extort money from victims.
He says it is now commonplace for elderly women to be targeted.
Victims are often contacted on social media from someone claiming to be a single male, sometimes widowed, and generally from North America.
They often claim they have a successful career to make themselves seem trustworthy, and the conversations can start off innocently and last for several weeks.
Eventually, the victim will be asked to send intimate photos and once they have, the offender will request money, often for what seems like genuine reasons such as CI Ian Scott
paying for medical bills or because the person is working overseas and can’t access their account.
Whilst doing this, the fraudster will then try to befriend the victim’s social media contacts so they can threaten to expose the intimate pictures to friends and family.
CI Scott said: “If you find yourself the victim of such a scam then the first thing to do is not to panic.
“You have already taken the first step by recognising you are the ‘victim’ in this and that you may require support to help you through this difficult time.
“The police will take your case seriously, will deal with it in confidence, and will not make judgements on your behaviour. “Do not pay. “Some victims who have paid what the offenders have demanded hear no more about it, many others who have paid have then continued to receive further and often increasing demands.
“In some cases even when the demands have been met the offenders will still go on to post the videos anyway.
“Do not communicate further with the offenders.
“Obtain screen shots of any communication.
“Deactivate your Facebook account and use the online process to report the matter to Skype, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc. to have any video blocked and to set up an alert in case the video resurfaces.
“Deactivating the Facebook account rather than shutting it down will ensure data is preserved and will assist law enforcement in obtaining evidence.
“The account can also be reactivated at any time ensuring online memories are not lost forever.”
If a person has paid money to the fraudster, they are asked to find out if the money has been collected, and make a note from where it was collected from. The person is then encouraged to cancel the payment if the money has not been collected.