Coronavirus: ‘naked-chat blackmail’ surges amid pandemic as Hongkongers spend more time online
- Lawyers, bankers and doctors among 1,159 people in city who fell victim to nude video chat extortion scams
- Number of ‘naked-chat blackmail’ cases increased by 280 per cent in 2021; victims collectively swindled out of nearly HK$14 million
Lawyers, doctors and bankers were among the 1,159 Hongkongers who fell victim to “naked-chat blackmail” scams and were conned out of nearly HK$14 million (US$1.8 million) in 2021, the highest losses incurred from this type of crime in the past five years.
A police source said the Covid-19 pandemic had contributed to a surge in the novel form of online extortion, in which perpetrators enticed victims into disrobing during video chats, then used the secretly recorded footage as blackmail by threatening to circulate the video online or send it to the target’s relatives and friends.
“During the pandemic, people spend more time staying home and using the internet for a variety of activities, so they became more vulnerable to being targeted by cybercriminals,” he said.
Nearly 35 per cent of victims, or 405 people, were local students, according to police.
The force said the youngest victim was an 11-year-old boy, while the oldest was a 76-year-old man.