Blackmailers using doctored indecent images and threatening to circulate them online if victims don’t pay up, Hong Kong police warn

Blackmailers are using doctored indecent images and threatening to circulate them online if their victims do not pay money in a new ruse targeting Hongkongers, police have warned.

The latest scam prompted the force to issue an alert on its CyberDefender Facebook page, urging the public to remain vigilant.

Police said some residents had recently received emails from fraudsters who claimed to have had them under surveillance for some time and uncovered serious financial and lifestyle issues.

The scammers claimed to possess video and photographic evidence and threatened to send it to major media outlets and relevant authorities if the victims did not pay them money, according to the force.

In the emails, the scammers attached manipulated photos into which the recipient’s headshots had been digitally inserted.

The swindlers told their targets in the emails: “I have been entrusted to investigate you. After seeing this, contact me immediately for a discreet resolution. Otherwise, all information will be handed over to the principal and exposed. Time is running out.”

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Police posted the warning on their CyberDefender Facebook page last week, saying similar blackmail scams had earlier emerged in mainland China and Taiwan using nearly identical photos with facial differences only.

Officers said they believed the swindlers obtained the victims’ photos and email addresses from social media platforms or websites.

“If you receive such blackmail emails, there is no need to panic. You should mark the relevant emails as spam,” the force said.

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Police said anyone in need of help should call their anti-scam helpline at 18222.

Under the Crimes Ordinance, publication or threatened publication of intimate images without consent is punishable by up to five years in jail.

From January to June this year, police handled 833 cases of naked chat-related scams, or “sextortion”, with victims blackmailed over recordings of steamy online video chats with crooks overseas. The amount involved was HK$14.7 million.

The youngest victim was an 11-year-old boy who met a “woman” on a dating app. As the two exchanged texts, the boy was persuaded to download a “video chat” app that turned out to be malware that ended up extracting his mother’s contact information from his phone.

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Scammers took naked pictures and videos of the boy during the video chats and then sent the content to his mother, demanding she pay HK$10,000 or else the footage would be made public.

The crime typically involves extortionists – mostly female – taking off their clothes in front of webcams to entice victims into doing the same. They then secretly record their victims and threaten to circulate the footage online or distribute it to the targets’ relatives or friends if they refuse to pay.

The number of naked chat-related scams rose from 171 in 2019 to 1,402 in 2022. The amount involved also increased to HK$22.1 million last year from HK$1 million in 2019.

Anti-scam advice on the force’s website includes: “do not expose your body to anyone during a video chat”; “do not easily trust the opponent will show their real face”; and “do not click or download programs from unknown sources”.