A familiar extortion scam is on the rise in B.C., with Surrey RCMP receiving 29 reports of the crime in a three-day span.
In one of the scams, perpetrators claim to have acquired compromising pictures of the victim and direct them to send money to a Bitcoin wallet or else the pictures will be shared to their friends and family.
In another scam, the suspect claims to have a person's browsing history on the internet, claims that the victim accessed pornographic sites and threatens to expose the person to family and friends.
Multiple reports have also surfaced in other communities, with North Vancouver and Ridge Meadows RCMP also reporting similar scams in recent days.
Surrey RCMP aims to educate the public about such scams to prevent more people from becoming victims of crime.
"(That) has definitely helped, as none of the victims who filed police reports gave into the threats," noted Corp. Sarbjit Sangha, media relations officer for Surrey RCMP.
"We want the community to be vigilant and call police if they receive this type of emails, texts or calls."
One scam starts with the suspect sending an email to the victim stating that they have been looking at adult content online and that malware has captured compromising photos of the victims doing so.
The suspect then provides a photo of the victim’s house along with their name and date of birth as proof that they know where the victim lives. The suspect demands payment to be made immediately via Bitcoin wallet, or they will release the photos to family and friends.
The criminal may cite a Social Insurance Number or password as "proof" of the hack. "Please know the computer has not been hacked," Sangha said. "The password cited was likely obtained in a previous data breach."
If you're a victim of sextortion, police say to stop all communication and deactivate (don’t delete) any of the accounts used to communicate with the criminal. Do not comply with the threat. In other words, never pay money and never send additional nudes.
"The situation will not get better by doing either of these things," Sangha said. "If you have sent money, check to see if it has been collected and, if not, quickly cancel the payment. Make a police report. Keep the correspondence. Keep information such as the person’s username(s), social media account information, a copy of the communications, along with any images and/or videos that were sent. Talk to a trusted adult or counsellor."
