Abu Dhabi police uncover online blackmailing gang

11 years ago | Posted in: Laws | 871 Views

Abu Dhabi police announced it has uncovered an international gang targeting internet users to indecent sexual behaviour and then extorting money from them by threatening to release secretly filmed video clips of the interactions online, with one victim being blackmailed for around AED10,000 ($2,722).

The online criminals used images and clips from videos of a sexual nature to lure mainly male victims to engage in behaviour, which was then filmed without their knowledge. Based overseas, police said the gang had deliberately targeted the Gulf.

Victims were ordered to pay out thousands of dollars or images of the interactions would be posted on various social media sites.

Lieutenant Colonel Taher Al Dhaheri, head of the organised crime department revealed how one Gulf national was told to wire AED10,000 or the embarrassing images and clips would be made public.

A married Arab architect was also targeted and filmed without his knowledge, as was a forty-year old Arab woman, who was promised employment with a well known UAE company in order to lure her to engage in the interaction, Lieutenant Al Dhaheri said.

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammed Borshid, head of the criminal investigation department (CID), warned the public against falling prey to cyber fraud and extortion.

“The gang specifically targets young people, particularly males. It communicates with them via electronic applications on computers using some social media sites, including Skype,” he said.

“They use aliases for the girls who lure them through dubbed voices to film the male victims in sexually revealing positions. The gang then uses those recorded videos to blackmail and threaten the victims, in exchange for sums of money transferred to accounts outside the country,” he added.

 

 

via: Arabian Business

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