Unterallgäu - It is commonplace these days for two relationship partners to get to know each other on the Internet. But caution should always be advised: the scam “sextortion” is currently on the rise in the region, including in the Unterallgäu district. Organized gangs try to persuade mostly young men to make nude videos in order to blackmail them afterwards.
It is of course not apparent at first that there is a gang behind the scam: With "sextortion", the person concerned first gets to know a stranger via a social network such as Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook. You exchange ideas and maybe find yourself very sympathetic. While the future victim thinks he is in good hands, the decoy on the other side of the cell phone line is acting with criminal intent: Even when getting to know each other, the focus is only on persuading the potential victim to undress in front of his webcam and engaging in sexual acts on himself to undertake. Therefore, according to the police, the perpetrators are quickly redirecting communication to video telephony. They record these sexual acts and then threaten to publish this video or picture on the Internet,if the requested amount of money is not paid.
In another variant of "sextortion", the perpetrators send their victims a blackmail letter by email, in which they claim to have recorded compromising sex videos of their victim and then demand money so that they are not published.
“Such e-mails are often sent en masse as spam e-mails without a specific target,” explains Dominic Geißler, spokesman for the Swabian South / West Police Headquarters.
As Geissler said when asked, the phenomenon “sextortion” affects mostly young men, but women could also be affected.
Most of the time the masterminds are organized in gangs, operate from abroad or use so-called "bots" to distribute their extortion letters by email.
In the Swabian South / West area, around 80 cases were registered in 2020, this year there were already more than 140. In 2021, booty damage of more than 30,000 euros was already incurred (2020: 14,000 euros).
And there has also been an increase in the Unterallgäu district: the 14 cases that were registered in 2020 have already been exceeded this year.
PI Mindelheim is also investigating one case
Only a few weeks ago the Mindelheim police had the case of a young Unterallgäu on the table. Apparently, the man had previously chatted with a stranger and then allowed himself to be tricked into sending a sex video of himself. The woman took advantage of this shamelessly: she demanded money and threatened to publish the video on the Internet if not. And to underline that she was serious, she posted a photo of the Unterallgäu in advance.
Despite the trouble, the man acted correctly: He did not transfer any money, but secured the chat history and went to the police to file a complaint.
"The investigations are now ongoing because of attempted blackmail on a sexual basis and because of the publication and distribution of images without the consent of the injured party," said the PI Mindelheim afterwards.
To protect yourself from “sexual blackmail”, the police also advise against accepting friend requests from strangers, not rushing to agree to a video chat, and certainly not to “agree to exposure or intimate acts in video chats” when you are just starting out with a person on the Internet got to know.