African sextortionists have been persuading Maltese to strip naked on webcam and then blackmailing them, this newsroom has learnt.
A source explained that victims, who are generally in a vulnerable state, are contacted by a 'woman' on a social networking site. After flirting for a number of days, the 'woman', whose profile would lead one to believe lives in Malta, convinces the Maltese person to come on webcam.
Following this, the webcam shows footage of a woman stripping and the culprit then tries to convince the Maltese person to do the same. If successful, this is followed by blackmail.
The culprit threatens to send a message with the names of the victim's family members on the social networking site, possibly their emails, upload the video to a site similar to YouTube, make the video private and begin to blackmail the victim threatening to publish the video and send it directly to family members.
The main problem here is that if one begins paying up, most likely to a bank in the Ivory Coast, the culprit will keep demanding more.
This is not just a Maltese problem. People from France have been heavily targeted by sextortionists and the problem has recently arrived in Malta.
The police department described the situation in detail and wishes to raise awareness on the issue.
"Such cases, commonly referred to as sextortion, were brought to our attention last year and reports, unfortunately, are being, received on a regular basis. This has spurred the Cyber Crime Unit, in particular, to raise public awareness on these crimes whenever presented with the opportunity (the unit regularly participates in crime prevention initiatives)," police said.
"Most reports have," according to the police, "been received from males although we have come across cases whose victims were female. However, common to all is the modus operandi - the perpetrators first 'befriend' their victims on social network websites after having initially contacted them on the same site or by e-mail. This allows access to a wealth of personal information, including their victims' friends list, which is later used as blackmail leverage.
"Victims are convinced to chat via webcam and encouraged to expose themselves. Having recorded the session, the perpetrators begin blackmailing their victims by typically threatening to either upload their recordings or send them to their relatives and friends. The criminals are, regrettably, often true to their word."
Technical enquiries carried out by the Cyber Crime Unit following local reports seem to indicate that, in most cases, the perpetrators operate from countries in the African and Asian continents and requests for assistance have been dispatched by the police to the respective authorities.
However, the Maltese police said that in most cases it is still awaiting feedback from its foreign counterparts.
"Here, the phrase 'prevention is better than cure' cannot be stressed enough. Whoever receives any messages from someone they do not know, especially those asking for personal information or intimate details is strongly advised to exercise caution," the police warned.
"It is difficult, if not impossible, to completely retract any content which has been made available on the internet. However, should anyone fall victim to such crimes they are advised to lodge a police report as soon as possible in order to initiate the necessary investigations. Paying the requested ransom will not guarantee that the videos are not uploaded or removed. In fact, the perpetrators usually continue asking for more and more money.
Sextortion is nothing new. In fact, a number of cases were investigated three to four years ago. Back then, the victims had been blackmailed into sending more intimate media. One of the criminals had been traced to Jordan and, according to the information received, was charged.