Romance scams are nothing new. They are even more rampant over the internet.
With isolation, and Valentines right around the corner, it may be easy to lose yourself in a new romantic interest. However sextortion scams are being reported to police more and more.
The RCMP say that they go something like this;
You receive an unsolicited friend request or contact on social media, and an online relationship develops. As the relationship builds, you are encouraged to send explicit photographs or video of yourself. Later, you’re contacted and told that the photograph or video will be sent to your loved ones, or posted online unless you pay money to the extortionist.
and now, you’ve become the latest victim of a prevalent sextortion scam.
You can prevent sextortion scams by:
– not accept friend requests from strangers on social media
– disabling your webcam when you are not using it
– do not share explicit photographs or videos with ANYONE
RCMP recommend that if you are a victim of Sextortion:
– stop communicating with the individual immediately
– save all correspondence
– report the matter to your local police
This is not just an ‘adult’ topic as Jocelyn Noseworthy of the Kelowna RCMP says: “It’s also very important to have conversations about internet safety with your children. They need to know how to keep themselves safe, and to report threatening or sexually suggestive behaviour they encounter to a trusted adult immediately.”