Empressleak website administrator arrested for ‘sextortion’
The Administrator of Empressleak website has been arrested for illegally publishing nude pictures and videos without the express permission of the owners.
The 35-year-old suspect, Anderson Ofosu Hene Amin, popularly known as Mario G, was arrested at his hideout in the Eastern Region.
His arrest follows a report made by a senior high school student on January 6, 2020 to the Cyber Crime Unit that her nude picture was published without her consent.
This was made known at a joint press briefing organised by the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Communications.
The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, explained that the website in question has been noted for publishing child pornographic content for the past six years.
“Available evidence including witness statement showed that the website has been demanding money from unsuspecting victims before their content is pulled down.
“Analysis conducted by the National Cyber Crime Centre has revealed that the website has about 600,000 viewers monthly in Ghana, Nigeria, and the United States.
“On January 6, this year, the computer emergency response team of the cyber security agency received a report which led to his arrest on July 31,” she indicated.
The sector minister noted that the issue of sexual extortion, now known as ‘sextortion’ has become a common practice in the country.
Giving a breakdown of the cyber crime reports, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said that out of the total reported cases, 296 of them are related to sexual extortion.
The reports, she said, was made to the cyber crime office between January 1 to June 30, 2020.
“The modus operundi of these people is to befriend unsuspecting victims in a conversation, get them to trust them and after convince them to send nude photos,” she said.
She further said that the Communications Ministry has submitted a bill to Parliament in relation to sexual extortion.
The bill is expected to provide a legal framework against cyber crime, enhance child online protection and reduce child pornographic content in the country.
The minister advised the general public to be mindful of who they interact with on social media, adding that ‘not everybody is a friend’.
The joint operation, which led to the arrest of the Empressleak Administrator was made up of personnel from the Cyber Crime Centre of the Criminal Investigation Department and the Ministry of Communications.
Anderson Ofosu Hene Amin has since been charged with the offence of obscenity, child pornography, extortion of money and money laundering.
The publication of child pornographic content constitute a criminal offence and perpetrators are liable currently under section 136 of the electronic transaction Act. 772, which states that a person who intentionally does any of the following acts:
a. Publishes child pornography through a computer
b. Produces or procures child pornographic for the purpose of its publication through a computer system
c. Possessing child child pornography on a computer system or electronic medium commits an offence