The Elgin County OPP detachment is warning the public, especially men, to never accept friend requests from strangers after a local resident fell victim to a ‘sextortion‘ scam.
The scam involves the victim accepting a friend request on Facebook of WeChat from a stranger, eventually engaging in online sexual activity which is recorded, and then being told the video will be sent to the victim’s friends unless they pay up.
Police in Elgin County recently received a report from a victim in the area, prompting them to issue a warning to the public.
“This person on Facebook had received a friend request from an unknown female party. He accepted the request around nine in the morning,” Const. Adam Crewdson told 980 CFPL.
“There were conversations back and forth and then towards the evening time is when, I guess, they sort of built a relationship and the online sexual activity happened and it was recorded.”
Crewdson added that the perpetrators then demand money and in most cases victims send money and fail to contact the authorities. In this case, the victim contacted police and did not send any money to the perpetrators.
“Half the time it can be prerecorded … online videos, that the guys are looking at. So this is people that are organized and they’re targeting people so that they do it multiple times.”
Crewdson said any friend requests from strangers should be ignored and anyone who believes they’ve fallen victim to this scam is urged to contact police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.