The Criminal Investigation Bureau is advising people to guard against “sextortions” that blackmail victims after they have been recorded during nude video chats.
This year has seen 14 reported cases of the scam, which uses intimate images or videos that have been captured to extort payment, with the victims being mostly males between the ages of 17 and 35, bureau data show.
The bureau said that in a March incident, a 20-something student in Yunlin County surnamed Chen (陳) used the Line messaging app to chat with a girl he had met through a dating Web site.
She allegedly encouraged Chen to engage in a nude video chat with her, assuring him that no one would know, the bureau said.
The girl then said that she was about to perform in a livestream, so she had to leave, but asked Chen to help boost her views by downloading an app and entering an “invitation code” to access the stream’s chat room, it said.
After he complied, she demanded NT$10,000 in online game gift cards, saying that she had all his mobile phone contacts and would send out the footage of his nude chat to his acquaintances if he did not pay up, it said.
Chen cooperated again, but was blackmailed again for additional cards a few moments later, the bureau said, adding that the one-minute nude chat eventually cost him NT$50,000.
The videos of girls seen by the victims were possibly downloaded from the Internet and was not the person on the other end of the chat, the bureau said, adding that bureau data show that more than 60 percent of victims met a fraudster on the dating Web site WooTalk.
People need to be aware of the dangers of engaging in online nude video chats, and watch out for links, QR codes or any download requests that come from unknown sources, which could contain malware, the bureau said.
If a person believes they are being scammed, they should contact the 165 Anti-Fraud and Internet Scam Hotline, it said.
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