Over 400k lost to sex extortionists within six months – Police report
The Ghana Police Service has revealed that over GH₵400,000 has been lost to sex extortionists within a six-month period.
The Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department, Commissioner of Police (COP) Isaac Ken Yeboah, explained that the money was paid between January 1 to July 31, 2020.
“Between the period after the lockdown and July, victims lost a total of GH₵420,000 to the perpetrators behind this crime,” he revealed at a press briefing on Monday.
The suspects use nude pictures and videos to blackmail their victims in exchange for money.
He urged all victims of sex extortion to report to the Cyber Crime Unit of the CID to assist with investigations.
COP Yeboah also cautioned persons involved in the act of taking nude pictures and videos from victims to desist from such practice.
Adding his voice, the head of the Cyber Crime Unit of the CID, Dr Gustav Yankson, observed that there has been a surge in cyber offences, especially during the coronavirus lockdown period.
Some of the offences recorded within the period, he said, included child pornography, publication of obscene materials, extortion related to nude pictures and videos, shopping and mobile money scams.
Investigations by the police, he said, showed that people resorted to the use of cyber space to spice up their relationships during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
“During the post lockdown period the images and videos shared between lovers and couples landed in the public domain and criminals took advantage to extort money from their victims,” he added.
Meanwhile, a notorious website administrator has been arrested for illegally publishing nude pictures and videos of victims without their express permission.
The 35-year-old suspect, Anderson Ofosu Hene Amin was arrested at his residence at Osino in the Eastern Region while he was in the act of uploading nude pictures and videos of some victims.
COP Yeboah said a number of digital devices used by Amin to perpetrate the act were retrieved and are being subjected to forensic tests to assist with investigations.
The operation was carried out in collaboration with the Cyber Security Centre of the Communications Ministry after the two institutions recorded similar trends of cases from victims.