One Norfolk County man will be thinking twice about what he does online after police say someone tried to blackmail him for $25,000 using an explicit video taken in a chat room.
On Tuesday, Norfolk County OPP received a call at 10:31 a.m. by a man reporting extortion.
Police say a male was video chatting with someone he thought was a female friend and engaged in sexually explicit acts over Skype.
The victim was then allegedly contacted and informed that the acts had been recorded, and a demand of $25,000 was made to prevent the video from being sent to the victim’s family along with all of his social media contacts.
OPP say the man did not pay the ransom and immediately contacted the police.
“Police are urging all computer users to be aware of the dangers of engaging in online web chats where explicit conversations and photographs are shared. Once it’s out there, you can’t get it back,” said Insp. Joseph Varga with Norfolk County OPP.
In a statement, OPP are reminding residents that anyone can take a live video, and people should think twice about how much they display online.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Ontario Provincial Police at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).