Sextortion scam has reached Northern Ontario: OPP

Two recent cases of sextortion in Northeastern Ontario has prompted a warning from the Ontario Provincial Police for residents to be wary of who they trust online.

OPP Sgt. Carolle Dionne says the most recent incidents took place in Kapuskasing and Chapleau, although she declined to release any other details, such as the gender and ages of the victims, to protect their identities.

While she doesn't have any statistics on it, Dionne said sextortion cases are becoming more common, and are particularly complex to investigate because the perpetrators are often in other countries.

"Many investigations tend to identify suspects originating in the Ivory Coast, which is in West Africa,” she said. “Now its making its way, predominantly, to Canada and France, where it's been seen most recently."

According the OPP release on the cases, the sextortion scam involves the victims being lured into online relationships through various social media, online dating or pornographic websites. The perpetrators create fake profiles, typically posing as attractive women, targeting males.

“As the relationship and rapport builds, the subject will request a webcam chat session,” the release said. “The victims are then enticed to perform a sexual act, which the subjects record using video recording software.

“The victim is then advised that the event was recorded and unless a sum of money is paid, the video will be released, made public and sent to contacts on their social media networks sites.”

These are traumatic cases for the victims, Dionne said, because they are facing monetary losses, as well as the risk of losing relationships and the public shame of having such a private video released online.

"These victims — even though they're typically males, women can be targeted, as well — it's devastating for their emotional and personal life,” she said. “We can't understand what one is going through when it happens to an individual. Some people can handle emotional stress a lot better than others. People can hit rock bottom. It's quite devastating."

While victims are enticed into exposing themselves, the person on the other end usually just shows pictures or maintains that they're webcam isn't working for whatever reason.

"And that should be a clue in itself," Dionne said. "I do know that, in speaking with a few of our investigators across the province, a lot of the victims are married or in a relationship. So then it becomes more complex. And then they (extort) money from them."

Because prosecuting the cases is so difficult, police are trying to educate the public beforehand to prevent people from being victimized in the first place.

"If people are aware, we can minimize the number of victims," she said. "So our best approach is through public education. That's the easiest way to deal with it."

Steps people can take to protect themselves include:

-- Beware of unknown persons who attempt to communicate with you over the internet;

-- Deny any request to perform an illicit act over the internet; and, 

-- Never send money.

Users can report abusive activity using a number of methods:

-- Written complaints from affected users; these are often provided via online forms or sent by email; 

-- Users can also hit the ‘flag’ button on an abusive video and enter the reason for the flag (for example – sexual content) or enter a short description; and,

-- You can also contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or report it online at www.antifraudcentre.ca.