A number of lonely men have been targeted and tricked into exposing themselves by criminal gangs posing as women in order to blackmail them.
These types of cases, known as ‘sextortion’, have been described as a “growing threat” by the National Crime Agency.
This is when criminals use online platforms, usually dating apps, to befriend their victims with many known to be male.
The gangs trick their victims into believing that they are talking to a woman, who is either fake or has been coerced into the scam.
Victims are then incited into performing a sex act or exposing themselves in front of their webcam, which is recorded by the gang with the threat to share the images with the victim’s family and friends.
Sextortion could also include phishing scams, where someone is contacted, usually by email, by a criminal who claims to have login details, or a video of the victim visiting an adult website.
Figures from a Freedom of Information request, reported by the Liverpool Echo, show that 3,984 cases of sextortion or online blackmail involving webcams or social media were reported to police across Britain in 2020/21.
(Image: PA)
The figure is more than double the 1,773 reported in 2019/20, which could be as a result…
