In South Korea sextortion, where people are tricked into performing sex acts online, then blac
By Jung Min-ho
It was supposed to be just a short, fun game until it turned into a never-ending nightmare.
A nice-looking woman online persuaded a man to take off his clothes and perform sexual acts in front of the webcam. He did so, only to realise after a few seconds that he had made a huge mistake. The woman threatened to share the footage with his family and friends unless he sent her money. After he ignored her, she sent the video to 20 of his friends through KakaoTalk, a mobile messenger service.
This is one of many stories shared in the online group “Victims of Body Cam Phishing”. Body cam phishing, or “sextortion”, is a form of blackmail in which criminals use fake identities to trick people into performing sexual acts online and then threaten to release the videos or photos unless the victims pay.
According to South Korea’s National Police Agency, there has been an increase in these crimes over the past few years. In 2018, 1,406 cases were reported, up from 1,193 in 2016.
Police believe the real number is much higher, given the nature of the crime. One group of criminals arrested last year had extorted 3.2 billion won (US$2.8 million) from 657 victims.
They used “honey trap” actors to lure their victims and make them download malware during video chats – saying things like “you can see me more clearly with this app” – to get the phone numbers of the victims’ families and friends, police say.
Even if the victims pay up, the nightmare does not end. “This is the third time the criminal has threatened me,” another victim wrote on the group page. “I have already paid her [or him] twice. Is it ever going to end? Someone please tell me how to deal with this.”
Police say paying the criminals will not stop them; worse, it encourages them to continue exploiting that vulnerability and look for other targets.
South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family runs a centre to help such victims. But because it requires parental consent for teenage victims, many give up. After being criticised for being unhelpful, the ministry says it will change the system to help teenagers without telling their parents.
Some sextortion cases are simply scams. According to FBI data last year, sextortion scams were on the rise. In these cases, scammers do not have the video of the people but claim they do to make similar threats.
Few people respond to the requested payment. But since the cost of sending millions of such emails is close to zero, many criminals do it for easy profits.
The reason some people fall for the scam is that criminals send emails often using authentic personally identifiable information to make their claims appear legitimate. The FBI says one way to prevent such scammers from targeting you is not to store sensitive or embarrassing pictures of yourself online or on your mobile devices.
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