GEORGE TOWN – Twenty-five men from Northeast district have fallen victim to an extortion syndicate offering sex services since January 1.
District police chief Soffian Santong said the victims, aged between 17 and 50, lost a total of RM150,000.
The syndicate members preyed on people via Facebook, WeChat, MiChat, Line, Tinder and other platforms.
“The Criminal Investigation Department is investigating 25 cases involving a total of RM150,000 lost by victims aged between 17 and 50,” said Soffian in a statement.
“The syndicate’s modus operandi is to offer ‘subscriptions’ to sex services and make pornographic video calls after getting to know the victims via social media.
“The syndicate members will make video calls using women who engage in obscene acts and ask the victims to get naked. The calls are recorded, and the clips used to extort money from the victims.
“The suspects also threatened the victims over the phone.”
The victims were told to transfer the funds online, including via PayPal, or make Razer Gold purchases, or virtual credits for gamers.
The cases are being investigated under Section 384 of the Penal Code for extortion, Section 385 of the same code for putting any person in fear or attempting to put any person in fear of injury, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for using a network facility to knowingly make, create, solicit or initiate a communication that is obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive with the intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person. – The Vibes, August 17, 2021
