Beware of Valentine sextortion, even by friends: police
Criminals are taking advantage of love to commit cyber crimes, including sextortion, and romance and hybrid scams, warned Colonel Siriwat Deepor, deputy chief of the Technology Crime Suppression Division.
In romance scams, criminals use sexy avatars to lure victims into sending them money, police said. Hybrid scams also use attractive avatars, but they differ from romance scams because they encourage victims to invest money in fraudulent schemes, police said.
Sextortion occurs when victims are encouraged to send nude photos or explicit video clips to criminals who subsequently use the images to blackmail them, Siriwat said.
"These crimes damage the reputation of victims and deprive them of money," he said.
Sextortion is dangerous because friends and acquaintances of the victims are often the culprits, Siriwat said.
"We would like to ask people to be careful with nude photos or [sexually] explicit video clips as they could become victims of sextortion," he said.
People can report possible sextortion via tcsd.go.th.
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