
Protect yourself from sexual extortions on social media
2022-10-05 10:16 HAP
Under the Official Languages Act, this office provides services to the public in English only. You will find general information in both official languages at bc.rcmp.ca and www.rcmp.ca
Aux termes de la Loi sur les langues officielles, ce bureau n'offre des services au public qu'en anglais. Vous trouverez des renseignements généraux dans les deux langues officielles au cb.grc.ca et www.grc.ca.
North Vancouver RCMP is warning both youth and adults to be aware of an increase in online sexual extortions and to have parents talk to their kids about the dangers of sex extortions.
Sextortion scams reported generally involved victims being coerced into sending money or performing sexual acts on camera. These scams can occur in as little as 20 minutes.
Commonly, males are targeted and deceived into believing they are communicating online with a female. Scammers create fake profiles on social media and dating websites, which they use to lure a person into performing sexual acts on camera. The scammer records the session and threatens to send the image or video to family, friends and/or other people unless they receive money or additional sexual content.
Offenders often share screen captures of the victim’s contacts or other identifying information (school, home address) so that the threat appears more credible and the victim is scared into complying with their request.
Officers from our Youth Intervention unit will be partaking in presentations in the upcoming weeks to students in North Vancouver School District about the dangers of Sexual extortions.
How to protect yourself
- Recognize that live streaming can be recorded and that pre-recorded video can be livestreamed;
- Familiarize yourself with social media privacy settings and consider limiting who has access to your personal information (i.e. friends list, location);
- Do not share intimate images or videos as once you share you don’t have control over what someone else does with it;
- Unless you know the person offline, there is no way to confirm who is on the other end;
- Trust your instincts, be skeptical and cautious; and
- Visit Cybertip to learn more
- If you are a victim of sextortion:
- Immediately stop all communication. Deactivate (but don’t delete) any of the accounts you are using to communicate with the individual.
- 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.
- 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.
Diffusé par :
Gend. Mansoor Sahak
Agent des relations avec les médiasGRC de North Vancouver
nvan.rcmp-grc.gc.ca (en anglais seulement)
147, 14e Rue Est, North Vancouver (C.-B.) V7L 2N4
Bureau : 604-985-1311
Cellulaire : 778-228-1619
Courriel : mansoor.sahak@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
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