Naked-Chat Blackmail: 55 Men, 4 Women Fell Prey To Video Chat Scam, Made To Pay Rs 2 Cr As Sextortion; Caution For Indians

New Delhi: Around 59 people in Hong Kong, four of whom were women, were deceived into paying over HK$1.9 million (about Rs 2 crore) in just one week after they were forced to go nude during video conversations. 

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) said that the police released the numbers on its Facebook page on Friday, cautioning locals to exercise caution when meeting persons online.

To trick women on social media, the scammers have also been masquerading as “highly educated, high-income and physically attractive” men. The Hong Kong police claimed that the perpetrators "use sweet talk to learn about the victims’ personal lives and interests to manipulate them.” It was further said, “In the past week, police received 59 cases of naked-chat blackmail, with scammers extorting more than HK$1.9 million. Four cases involved female victims.”

Additionally, the police disclosed that a 5th of the 1,102 victims of “naked-chat blackmail” were students. The scammers coerced the victims into paying over HK$31 million(about Rs 34 crore). According to SCMP, several of the students were around 11 years old.

Cases of naked-chat blackmail or sextortion in India
Several instances of sextortion or naked chat blackmail have also been documented in India. People were cautioned by the Kerala police earlier this year about honey traps and not to answer video calls from strangers or unknown numbers. In 2022, a Bengaluru man had to pay Rs 5 lakh man to fraudsters after he was tricked into becoming nude on a video chat. In 2023, two men were detained in Rajasthan for tricking a person from Vadodara into making a naked WhatsApp chat and demanding Rs 3.33 lakh from him. 

What is Sextortion?
Sextortion is a type of cyber abuse in which a cybercriminal uses social media platforms, instant messaging apps, SMS, online dating apps, porn sites, and other channels to entice victims into private video/audio chats where they are forced to pose nude or provide explicit pictures. These materials are eventually used by the fraudsters to blackmail the victims. Both male and female victims may fall prey to these kinds of frauds. 

Tips to protect against online sextortion
* Never accept video calls or open attachments from strangers.
* Keeping your personal photos, videos, and posts private is advisable.
* It is always advisable to decline friendship requests from strangers on social media.
* Do not click on intimate, nude, or semi-nude pictures and videos.
* Enable privacy and security settings on social media accounts.
* File a sextortion complaint with the cybercrime cell.