CRESTON, B.C – RCMP warn to not engage in intimate or revealing internet contacts with strangers, after several cases of blackmailing attempts have been reported to the police.
The latest case occurred recently and followed what RCMP call a pattern.
According to Staff Sergeant Ryan Currie with Creston RCMP, men will be approached by a woman online, asking to engage in undressed video calls or to send pictures.
“Once they do that, they get threats that these images will be made public or sent to friends and family”, Currie told MyCrestonNow.com.
The blackmailer will then ask for money.
Currie says several cases, 3 or 4, have been reported to his detachment in the last year.
However, the number might not actually correspond with how frequent this scam is, as there is a lot of shame attached to it, Currie says.
His advice is to not engage in any contacts of a private nature before establishing who is on the other end and that there is no malicious intent.
RCMP also warn of a gold scam in the Creston Valley, which MyCrestonNow previously has reported on.