Two 12-year-old boys were among 61 Hong Kong residents who lost more than HK$1.7 million (US$218,110) over the past week after falling victim to “sextortion” scams and being blackmailed with video recordings that showed them naked.
Revealing details on its CyberDefender Facebook page on Friday, the force said the victims met the fraudsters through dating apps.
“They were lured into naked online video chats, where the fraudsters recorded videos of the victims,” police said. “The scammers then threatened to share these videos publicly if the victims did not pay them money.”
The crime typically involves extortionists – mostly female – taking off their clothes in front of their webcams to entice victims into doing the same.
They then secretly record their victims and threaten to circulate the video online or distribute it to the person’s relatives or friends unless a payment is made.
Police said there were 61 reports of such blackmail over the past week, resulting in losses exceeding HK$1.7 million.
“Among them, the youngest victims were two 12-year-old secondary school students, who met the scammers through the same dating app,” the force said.
According to police, “sextortion” not only leads to financial loss and emotional harm, but the recorded videos could remain online, having a lasting effect.t.
Police urged parents to pay attention to their children’s online social circles and to remind them to remain clothed during video chats while also avoiding conversations that were sexual in nature.
In the first quarter of this year, police handled 479 reports of scams related to naked chats that involved financial losses of HK$12.7 million.
Cases of “sextortion” rose by 50 per cent to 2,117 last year from 1,402 the year before, while the amount of money the victims lost doubled to HK$44 million in 2023 from HK$22 million in 2022.
