A Nanaimo man learned that not everyone met online is who they seem, after a Hinge dating site match attempted to extort him for $1,500 using his nude photos.
After sending a lesser amount to the alleged extortionist, the man broke off communication and contacted the RCMP, according to the authorities in their regular incident report.
The man was a victim of what is known as 'sextortion,' in which the perpetrator threatens to send a sexual image or video of the victim to others if the victim doesn't pay them or provide more sexual content.
According to http://cybertip.ca, Canada's national tip line for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children, sextortion demands for money often come from international organized criminal networks, and 90 per cent of the victims are male. Typically boys are extorted for money, while girls are extorted for more images.
The RCMP recommends that if someone believes they are being sextorted, they should stop the chat, take screenshots of the text and profile, block the account, report it to the platform and report it to http://cybertip.ca or local police. Victims are urged not to send more images, pay, continue the conversation or respond to demands.
Young victims have additional resources and support through http://needhelpnow.ca, which is owned and operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection Inc.
According to the RCMP in the recent Nanaimo incident report, "the complainant realized that he really had no idea who he was communicating with and took this as a learning lesson."
