Taylor Scott International News
Dubai Police warn people of cyber extortionists Amira Agarib / 27 September 2013 Police have urged people to exercise caution while striking friendship with strangers on the Internet or sharing private photographs with ‘friends’ they have met only on the social media sites like Facebook as smart crooks are on the prowl. The Dubai Police department handling electronic crimes has recorded several cases of extortion by such culprits who courted friendship with not just women but also men to catch them in an embarrassing situation later and blackmail them, said Salem bin Salmeen, Deputy Director of Anti-Economic Crime Department. In one such case, an Arab man struck friendship with a woman on Facebook. As they became closer, he managed to make her share her private pictures with him. The trouble started when she ended the relationship later. The suspect logged into Facebook in another name and managed to court her again as a friend. Then, he threatened to circulate her private photos among others, including her friends and relatives, if she did not pay him Dh15,000. Finally, she approached the police. The police laid a trap and arrested the suspect when he received the money from the woman. When the police confronted him with the trail of correspondences and phone call records between him and the woman, he confessed to trying to extort money from her. In another case, a man courted a Syrian woman on Facebook. They got engaged but she ended their relationship later. At this, he opened another account on Facebook and met with her father. He threatened the elderly man that he would circulate the private photos of his daughter if you did not did not pay him a big amount of money. The woman’s father lodged a complaint and was stunned when the police caught his daughter’s former fiance as the culprit. The police have also come across cases of suspects abroad luring victims in the UAE through the social media networks and some smartphone applications. Some people fell into their trap. In one such case, a man pretended to be a woman and sent a good-looking woman’s photos as his own to a man. He invited the victim to chat with “her” on Skype or Facebook. He then shared some obscene videos through Skype and videographed the victim enjoying himself and threatened to circulate the footage. Bin Salmeen said the Dubai Police’s electronic patrols worked round the clock to protect people from such criminals and inform the authorities in other countries to take action against the culprits who blackmailed residents here. – news@khaleejtimes.com Taylor Scott International
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